Health service chief admits A&E conditions unacceptable

THE head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) yesterday acknowledged that the conditions that patients and staff had to contend with were not acceptable in as many as 15 of the country’s 35 A&E wards.

However, Professor Brendan Drumm argued that patient management systems in some hospitals contributed to the crisis as much as bed shortages.

The HSE chief executive, who was addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Health, argued that the problem could not be dealt with in isolation.