Trolley chaos could cost 400 lives yearly, claims consultant

TROLLEY chaos could be costing up to 400 lives each year because patients are not receiving appropriate care amid the bedlam, a consultant in emergency medicine has warned.

Dr Chris Luke, who works out of two Cork city hospitals, said patients “are becoming ill quietly”, but that a deterioration in their condition may go unnoticed in the “congestion and chaos” of an emergency department (EDs).

He said colleagues in Galway had undertaken a study which found there were 20 avoidable deaths over the course of a year, and that on a national level, this could equate to 400 avoidable deaths annually.