Hospital set to be ‘saturated’ with patients

IRELAND’S largest hospital is expected to be saturated with delayed-discharge patients within months.

This is because the Health Serivice Executive (HSE) only responds when the bed situation becomes desperate, according to a doctor at the hospital.

Dr Bernard Silke, a physician at St James’s Hospital in Dublin said a decision by the HSE to fund 100 new, long-stay community beds had reduced pressure but by autumn the hospital would be “saturated” again.