One-in-four unhappy with A&E departments, study reveals

ONE-IN-FOUR patients who attend accident and emergency departments are unhappy with the experience, a study commissioned by the Health Service Executive (HSE) reveals.

The study also found that half of the dissatisfied patients had to wait more than three hours to be examined by a doctor and nearly half said they did not get enough pain relief.

The survey, carried out by the Irish Society for Quality and Safety in Healthcare, in partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Ipsos MORI, Ireland, was based on telephone interviews with 1,600 people who attended A&Es last year. More than 104,000 people attend A&Es every month, of which 22% are admitted.

The study also found that one-in-four patients who had an unhappy experience did not get enough or any information about their condition and treatment.

And while 93% of patients said they were treated with dignity and respect, 7% felt they were not.

National director of the HSE’s Winter Plan, John O’Brien, said over 70% of patients waited less than 12 hours to be admitted last year, despite a rise of 4% in the number of people attending A&Es.

Between May and December last year, however, the number of patients waiting up to six hours increased from 37% to 50%, while those waiting more than 24 hours decreased from 9% to 4%.

Mr O’Brien pointed out that between late 2005 and the early part of 2006, 15 hospitals frequently had patients waiting more than 24 hours. That had now been reduced to about three.

He said difficulties still being experienced by Beaumont and the Mater in Dublin and Our Lady’s of Lourdes, Drogheda, were being addressed.

Mr O’Brien added that the HSE was also working with the country’s 35 A&Es so that the public would know how long patients have to wait from the time they arrive at the emergency department. That information would be available in the coming weeks.

Currently, the HSE’s trolley waiting time-clock only starts once the decision is made to admit a patient and does not take account of patients waiting on beds in hospital admission lounges.

General secretary of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) Liam Doran said capacity issues would have to be addressed in the remaining hospitals where patients were still experiencing long waiting times.

“Whether it is acute beds, continuing care beds, enhanced primary care or small injury units; those are the only initiatives that will address the difficulties still being experienced by some A&Es,” he said.

Chair of the Irish Patients Association Stephen McMahon said the HSE must now focus on the patients who were unhappy with their experience of A&E. “The patient is a key part of the healthcare system and must be listened to,” he stressed.