Patients in Cork forced to wait for treatment

PEOPLE living in the greater Cork area are 24 times more likely to end up being treated on a trolley in A&E department than their counterparts in Kerry, according to figures just released.

Statistics obtained from the Irish Nurses’ Organisation show over a period of 19 days last month there were 273 people on trolleys in the A&E department at Cork University Hospital and a further 240 in the Mercy Hospital.

At Kerry General Hospital in Tralee there were just 11. The figures mean that on average there were approximately 14 people on trolleys each day at CUH, 12 at the Mercy, while there was just one person every two days in Kerry.

However, figures for the first few days in March show increases at CUH, including two days when the number of people on trolleys reached 30. This was first recorded on March 3 and again on March 8, when the consultant in charge, Dr Stephen Cusack, decided overcrowding was so bad that he would shut the department to all but emergency cases.

During the same period the highest recorded number of patients on trolleys at the Mercy Hospital was 41. Meanwhile, there were increases in Kerry, including one blip on March 1 which showed six patients were being treated on trolleys.

INO industrial relations officer Patsy Doyle said CUH is the biggest general hospital in the country, but added numbers being treated on trolleys showed it is under-resourced to a “chronic level.”

Ms Doyle added 45 nurses were working in the A&E department, whereas her union was seeking to have 65 to cope with demand.

“The orthopedic hospital should have a minor injuries unit. There is scope and space there. CUH needs more beds and management there also need to maximise efficiencies,” she said.

Former Southern Health Board member Deputy Bernard Allen said he would be raising the issue in the Dáil at the earliest possible opportunity.

“If we have a greater population in the Cork area we have greater needs. I wouldn’t be playing Cork against Kerry, but the appalling fact is too many sick people are spending an unacceptable length of time on hospital trolleys and it’s a symptom of the shambles which exists in the management of our health services,” Mr Allen said.

“We were promised by Micheál Martin before last election that waiting lists would be eliminated in 12 month. The brutal facts are that people are suffering even more. There were too many committees set up and reports prepared and these were used as an excuse for not making the hard political decisions about the management of our hospitals,” he said.