Hospital staff see no change in A&E crisis

IT is now more than a year since the Tánaiste’s €70 million 10-point A&E plan came into operation, but there are huge divisions among hospital staff as to whether it is making any difference to A&E patients.

Consultants, nurses and opposition politicians have all disregarded the Health Service Executive’s revelations that trolley figures fell by 14% nationally last year and by 20% in Dublin - where the problem is clearly worse.

In contrast, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association contends that trolley figures at Beaumont increased by 30% between April 2004 and April 2005 and that Tallaght Hospital’s number of ‘trolley days’ has increased from 7,400 to 9,000 per year. Our figures show an average of 175 on trollies every day last year.