A&E overcrowding means trolley numbers hit all-time high of 455

SEVERE overcrowding in some A&E units pushed patient trolley numbers to an all-time high of 455 yesterday, according to the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO).

INO deputy general secretary David Hughes said union members had expected the numbers to increase this week following the cold snap but were surprised when it reached 455.

“The Health Service Executive (HSE) said the cold snap had nothing to do with the A&E problem. Now they are describing the situation as a temporary spike. Well then winter is a spike, we get winter every year,” he said.

The HSE disputed the INO’s figure and claimed there were 363 patients waiting on trolleys in A&E departments yesterday.

A HSE spokesperson said it was “rare enough” for the trolley figures to breach 300 and described it as a “temporary spike” with the winter vomiting bug largely to blame for the increased activity outside Dublin.

Cork University Hospital (CUH), where a new €11 million A&E unit opened less than a year ago, had the highest figure of 40 patients on trolleys.

A&E consultant and head of emergency medicine at CUH, Dr Stephen Cusack, said they were “tipping 40” early yesterday despite claims by the HSE that the figure was 28.

Dr Cusack said they were “particularly hard-pressed at the moment” with larger than usual numbers of patients requiring treatment, possibly exacerbated by the winter vomiting bug.

The INO claimed 219 patients were on trolleys in Dublin hospitals, a figure the HSE put at 162. St Vincent’s had the highest Dublin figure at 39.

Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney admitted there were issues that had to be tackled on a hospital by hospital basis.

She said there were up to 500 people in the acute hospital system in the Dublin area who should be in more suitable facilities.

According to the INO, other hospitals with over 30 patients on trolleys included Beaumont, James Connolly Memorial, both in Dublin, and Cavan General.