Hospital trolley crisis ‘requires longer-term plan’ says Varadkar

Relieving pressure on emergency departments requires “a longer-term plan”, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said yesterday.

The minister’s comments followed a renewed call by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) for emergency department overcrowding to be declared a national emergency.

Yesterday, Beaumont Hospital in Dublin cancelled 14 planned procedures to reduce pressure on its emergency department.

Ten of the patients were day cases while the remaining four were general surgical cases covering a variety of conditions.

Mr Varadkar said he believed overcrowding at Beaumont should ease in a few days.

He said the problem existed in other hospitals and that a longer-term plan was needed.

“The run up to Christmas is always a busy time in emergency departments. Beaumont is under particular pressure, but it is not the only one,” said Mr Varadkar.

“I think we will see an alleviation in the next couple of days. But it is a problem that exists across our health service and something that requires a longer-term plan.”

The INMO warned that Limerick University Hospital’s decision to place extra beds on wards would compromise the care of all patients in the hospital.

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda was continuing to face chronic levels of overcrowding, while the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore, Sligo General, and Wexford General all had record levels of overcrowding.

INMO general secretary Liam Doran said the health service was faced with the most significant overcrowding situation since the nurse’s representative body began counting trolleys 10 years ago.

According to yesterday’s INMO trolleywatch, there were 386 people on trolleys in hospital emergency departments or on wards awaiting a hospital bed.

Beaumont Hospital had 27 patients on trolleys and six on wards awaiting beds after again asking people to avoid visits to its emergency department unless it was absolutely necessary.

A hospital spokesperson said that Beaumont had a significant number of nursing vacancies — there were currently over 50, including a number of vacancies in its emergency department.

Despite extensive recruitment efforts both at home and more recently in Britain, take up of the posts had been very slow.

University Hospital Limerick had 20 patients on trolleys yesterday and 14 in wards awaiting admission to a hospital bed.

St Vincent’s University Hospital had 30 patients on trolleys yesterday — the highest number of all the hospitals but did not have patients waiting in wards.

Meanwhile, Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in Cork has cancelled all hospital visits, with the exception of the children’s ward, for 24 hours because of the winter vomiting bug.