Hospital’s A&E ‘swamped’ by 4,411 patients

CORK University Hospital’s (CUH) emergency department was swamped with a massive 4,411 patients last month — the highest rate ever recorded at the under-pressure facility.

New figures show that on average 142 people attended the emergency department every day in January, contributing to the shocking trolley count conditions faced by the public.

Speaking at the latest HSE South regional health forum meeting, Ger Reaney, the health service’s integrated service area manager for Cork, confirmed the huge figures for the hospital.

He said the 4,411 monthly count was significantly higher than the 4,289-level in January 2010 and was “unprecedented” for the facility.

However, despite the situation at CUH — which has continued into this month, with 47 people waiting on trolleys on Tuesday leading to significant criticism in recent weeks — Mr Reaney said the difficulties were not entirely the HSE’s fault.

He 2,574 people (58%) of the people who attended the emergency department in January did not require inpatient admission, a situation he said contributed to overcrowding at the unit.

Mr Reaney added that the length of waits was “higher than usual”, partially as a result of the need to isolate patients with swine flu or other infectious illnesses in three wards and the fact a significant number of patients were “frail” and “elderly” with “complex presentations”.

The senior official, who confirmed a third of people who did attend were still not treated within the HSE’s own six-hour target figure, said the recent opening of the €1.4 million acute medicine unit at CUH would play a significant role in reducing the attendance rates.

However, HSE South regional health forum chairman and Labour Cork city councillor, Catherine Clancy, said the situation gave further weight to calls for the downgrading of the Mercy University Hospital’s (MUH) and the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital’s (SIVUH) units to be scrapped.

The CUH emergency department figures were released as an internal HSE investigation continues into how money donated to the hospital specifically for frontline services was spent.

Among the issues being examined by the now almost two-year-long inquiry into CUH Foundation is why €365,000 was used to pay for consultancy fees between December 2007 and December 2008 — a time when the foundation’s cash-in-hand levels dwindled from €230,603 to nothing.

Among the “consultancy fees” documents is an emergency department report which the HSE has been unable to clarify if it was commissioned, tendered for or had its terms of reference published.

The HSE has not provided any likely date for when the inquiry will be concluded.

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