A&E crisis prevails two years after Harney call

PATIENTS are continuing to suffer and die because of continued overcrowding in hospital emergency departments (EDs) — two years after Health Minister Mary Harney described the situation as a “national emergency”.

According to doctors, the single biggest issue facing EDs in Ireland continues to be “persistent and excessive over-crowding” with patients who are waiting for beds after being seen by A&E.

Seven EDs out of 18 surveyed in a report in 2006 remain “unfit for purpose” today, according to the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM).

The association has called for the 2006 task force report to be implemented. It says continuing delay in doing so will only further compromise patient care. International evidence confirms emergency departments (EDs) overcrowding results in excess mortality.

The conclusions of the report include most EDs had inadequate physical infrastructure and the key causes of delays were due to inadequacies in hospital and community services.

Two years after Ms Harney’s declaration “a national emergency” on March 28, 2006, the IAEM say that little or nothing has changed.

“There is still a culture of acceptance of trolley waits which extends right up to the Minister for Health and Children who stated in the Dáil that waiting on a trolley could be ‘a pleasant experience’,” said the group yesterday.

They accused the Health Service Executive (HSE) of failing to set a date from which hospitals will meet a performance target of six hours or less wait time in emergency departments.

According to the IAEM, overcrowding was eradicated by the NHS in England over a three-year period, with 98% of patients in that country now being treated and admitted or discharged within four hours of attendance.

“For how much longer do patients have to suffer and die unnecessarily before those charged with political and operational accountability for the health services take their responsibilities seriously?”

The HSE said yesterday it provided “significant additional resources” in 2007 and 2008 to address problems in emergency departments.

Improvements included 200 beds in acute hospital admission lounges and 646 long-stay beds in the private sector. Meanwhile, 860 public long-stay beds are to be provided by the end of this year, according to the HSE.