46 trolleys at hospital ‘a record new low’

THE presence of 46 patients on trolleys at Cork University Hospital’s A&E department was a “record new low” in healthcare, it was claimed yesterday.

It also prompted a nurses’ organisation to accuse the HSE of being “a tyrannical regime which is not providing patients the standard of care befitting a developed country”.

Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) industrial relations officer Patsy Doyle warned the numbers on trollies could be exceeded if the HSE closes other acute hospitals in Cork city and county.

The INMO reported the figure of 46 patients on trolleys at CUH last Tuesday.

Ms Doyle said it was a record low in healthcare and she predicted such numbers could be exceeded if the HSE carries out plans to withdraw out-of-hours A&E cover in Mallow, Bantry, Mercy University Hospital and the South Infirmary.

According to the INMO, CUH had, by far, the highest number of people on trolleys of any hospital in the country on Tuesday last.

Yesterday, there were 33 patients on trolleys at the A&E.

Twice this month there were 30 or more patients on trolleys and six times the figure exceeded 20, while last month there were a number of days when the figure exceeded 30.

“I have never come across a figure of 46 before. It’s a classic example of systems failure and a dress rehearsal of how the CUH A&E will look if they close the out of hours A&Es at the other hospitals,” Ms Doyle said.

She claimed the HSE’s reconfiguration teams had informed her organisation that there would be no more people on trolleys in the A&E.

“They started telling us that nine months ago and again two weeks ago. But the queues are getting bigger and bigger. The nurses are doing everything they can. But it’s daily bedlam and a breech of people’s human rights in hospital,” Ms Doyle suggested.

She said the INMO would be seeking an audit on the ambulance service to see if it was deliberately taking emergency cases to CUH rather than other hospitals.

The INMO said it had come across several cases at CUH where patients were waiting up to three and four days to get a bed.

The HSE admitted the A&E had been extremely busy in recent days with a higher than average number of patients requiring admission.

It claimed that by 8am last Tuesday there were 36 patients who had completed their emergency care, awaiting admission. The overall number of patients awaiting admission was reduced to 12 patients by 2pm on the day.

“The reasons for the increased attendances at the emergency department seem to indicate an increased level of complex and mixed emergency admissions and it is regrettable that some patients may experience a delay in being transferred from the emergency department to a hospital bed,” a HSE spokesman said.