INMO: Trolley numbers predictable

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has described the record 612 patients on trolleys as “entirely predictable” and warned it could worsen.

The INMO predicts this current flu outbreak will cause even more chaos at emergency departments.

Earlier this week, the HSE warned that influenza and respiratory illness levels have doubled over the past two weeks and are likely to increase further in the coming weeks.

There were 33 on trolleys at Cork University Hospital yesterday, 26 at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, 42 at the Midland Regional in Portlaoise, and 41 at St Luke’s Kilkenny.

Meanwhile, the medical director of Cork and Kerry’s out-of-hours GP service, SouthDoc, Gary Stack, said there was a 40% rise in patient contacts this Christmas compared to last and a 53% rise comparing this new year period and last. He said there is “a crisis in general practice”, with up to 18 GP vacancies in Cork and Kerry alone.

Dr Stack said some patients are forced to wait up to 24 hours to see a GP because of a lack of doctors.

Meanwhile, nationally, the INMO said there has been a “ significant deterioration” in emergency department overcrowding in November and December.

In total, there was a record 93,621 admitted patients on trolleys last year, said INMO secretary general Liam Doran.

“The stark reality is that, in 2007, after it was declared a ‘national emergency’, the number of patients on trolleys was recorded as 50,402,” said Mr Doran. “However, in 2016 this has increased by 86% to 93,621. This confirms that successive governments’ approach to the public health service have failed to address this problem and it must now become a top priority for a government- wide response in 2017.

“What steps have been taken to implement the recommendations, of an expert group report last August, which called for additional nursing posts to be created and filled, to look after all admitted patients in emergency departments and extra patients on wards?”

Fianna Fáil’s health spokesman Billy Kelleher said the HSE seems to think it is acceptable to have 300 to 400 people on trolleys and warned regional hospitals are amongst the worst affected by overcrowding.

“The winter initiative has failed, and [Health] Minister [Simon] Harris must review what his department and the HSE are doing... The minister needs to bring forward proposals that increase capacity in hospital wards. Across the country, there are community hospitals with fully functioning wards that could be used to treat non-acute patients, thereby freeing up acute beds in our major hospitals.”

Ann Marie Horan, pharmacist and member of the executive committee of the Irish Pharmacy Union, warned people to get the flu vaccination, especially those in at-risk groups.

“While it can often be difficult to tell the difference between the common cold and flu, flu is a much more severe illness than a cold,” she said. “Flu symptoms, particularly fever and muscle aches, tend to come on suddenly, whereas a cold usually starts gradually with symptoms of a sore throat and a blocked or runny nose.”