‘Man with possible brain illness spent five days in A&E’

A YOUNG man with a suspected brain illness, who spent five days in A&E waiting for a scan, eventually fled the hospital fearing conditions there were making him feel worse.

Delegates at the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) annual conference were told the 22-year-old chose instead to sleep for five nights at a relative’s house near the Dublin hospital as he believed exhaustion was exacerbating his illness.

“This man needed proper medical attention immediately. His speech was slurred, he was dragging his feet. It clearly wasn’t drug or drink related. It was clearly a potential brain illness,” nurse Kay Garvey, an INO executive council member told the 340 nursing delegates.

“He was admitted on a Friday night last month and wasn’t seen or scanned until the Wednesday. He didn’t even have a trolley. He was on a chair. He began to feel that tiredness was making his condition worse and decided it was better for him to rest at night in a relative’s house with no medical supervision. That is how extreme our conditions have become.”

Following a heated debate on the A&E crisis, a motion was unanimously passed agreeing to increase the ‘Enough is Enough’ protests and authorising the Executive to “take whatever means necessary” if overcrowding is not resolved.

Several delegates criticised as ineffectual Minister for Health Mary Harney’s 10-point-plan.

Nurses demanded instead the 1,500 promised acute hospital beds.

“There has been a doubling in numbers at A&Es since the 10 point plan was put in place. There has also been intimidation of staff and retaliatory threats to withhold our pay. These are inhumane conditions that should not be tolerated,” said Alan O’Riordan, of the INO’s Dublin south-west branch.

Executive Council member Jo Tully pointed out that the government’s promised 1,500 beds weren’t mentioned once in the 10-point-plan.

“There are also potential extra beds in the system but they are closed. There’s 152 beds closed for financial reasons in the greater Dublin area, another 60 in Galway and half of hospital beds closed at Monaghan General,” she said.

INO Secretary General, Liam Doran said patients should realise that we live in a country where the government pays €2,500 a day to tribunal barristers, yet can’t provide health services quickly to all patients.

“Our hearts are broken at the ineptitude of the HSE and their failure to resolve this crisis. There is no acceptance that we need a national emergency response to the A&E crisis led by the Taoiseach and Tanaiste” Mr Doran said.