Emergency room waiting times set to lengthen

EVEN longer waiting times in hospital emergency departments are inevitable from next month, the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM) has warned.

The IAEM yesterday said staffing levels in emergency departments would be worse than ever from July 11, the changeover day for junior doctors, who are on six-month contracts.

“The IAEM fears that prolonged emergency department waiting times for patients will lead to delayed treatment and potential avoidable harm. While we are producing more doctors that ever before in Ireland, the situation is worsening and the Health Service Executive (HSE) must urgently reconsider its approach to the matter.”

The IAEM, which represents consultants in emergency medicine, called on the new HSE board to put contingency plans in place so services could be safely provided to all patients.

The association said preliminary results from a detailed emergency department staffing survey it was conducting this week confirmed its worst fears, with many departments struggling to maintain full 24-hour cover.

It said many emergency departments had vacancies and found it difficult over the past 18 months to fill their complement of senior house officers and, particularly, middle grade posts.

IAEM president Fergal Hickey said many of the 32 hospitals with 24-hour emergency departments were in serious difficulty.

He said Britain had solved the problem by introducing strict targets and making the chief executives of individual hospitals personally responsible.

“They [the British] have done what it takes to solve the problem. We have never really addressed it. There has been a lot of talk, there has been a lot of pontification, but it has not been resolved.”