A&Es have ‘woefully inadequate’ staff levels

DOCTORS have claimed vital emergency department units & are being over- stretched because of “woefully inadequate” staff and low locum cover.

The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM) has warned that despite an ongoing publicfocus on hospital needs, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is not providing the necessary number of “senior decision makers” to units.

According to the group – led by emergency medicine consultants Dr Fergal Hickey, Dr James Binchy, and Dr Niall O’Connor – there are just 54 “substantive consultants in emergency medicine” for Ireland’s 32 hospitals with 24-hour emergency units.