Patient forced to use bed over lack of support services

AN elderly pensioner suffering from dementia was forced to use a vital hospital bed for six months because no adequate step-down services were available.

The Irish Examiner has learned that the patient, who is in his 70s but has not been named, entered Cork University Hospital (CUH) early last year for a surgical procedure.

While the operation was successful, doctors felt his condition meant it would not be responsible to allow him to return home without the proper support services.

However, despite the pressing need to find step-down services for the man, none were found for six months.

As a result, physicians were left with no option other than to continue treating the pensioner – who had no other pressing medical needs – at CUH, meaning the vital hospital bed was unavailable to other patients.

The situation emerged as HSE figures revealed more than 20,000 bed nights and 1,520 procedures were cancelled in Cork hospitals last year as a direct result of the health service bed blocker crisis.

The statistics, revealed at the latest HSE South regional health forum meeting, show between January and December last year a total of 20,816 bed nights were lost in four Cork hospitals due to delayed discharges.

At CUH the figure stood at 11,129, with 3,815 bed nights lost at the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital (SIVUH), 3,433 at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH), and 2,439 at Bantry General.

A further 1,520 inpatient and day case procedures were cancelled at CUH, SIVUH, MUH, Bantry General, Kerry General and Mallow General last year as a result of the same issue, the HSE also confirmed. Of this figure, 1,261 of the procedures were cancelled at CUH.

Criticising the situation, Fine Gael councillor John Buttimer, who received the figures from the HSE South, said in reality little progress has been made.

He added the number of bed nights lost in Cork last year due to delayed patient discharges was akin to a small hospital being closed.

Meanwhile, the HSE’s controversial plans to downgrade a series of hospitals across Cork and Kerry are due to be published by the end of March.

Uncertainty continues to surround the fate of emergency departments in two of Cork city’s main hospitals under the plan, with suggestions just one major acute trauma centre will survive in Cork.

It is expected all other acute hospitals in the region will see their emergency departments transformed into 24/7 Medical Assessment and Admissions Units in the move.