7% more emergency hospital admissions among elderly

More older people are being admitted to hospital through emergency departments, new figures from the HSE show.

There were almost 7% more emergency admissions of people aged 65 years and over compared to this time last year.

The performance overview for January also shows there were considerably more older patients with complex medical needs who required longer stays in hospital.

There were 729 delayed discharges — patients who had finished their acute care but required alternative care, recorded at the end of the month. An additional €25m was allocated to alleviate the pressures caused by delayed discharges and overcrowded emergency departments.

The funding was used to provide additional transitional care beds and home care supports.

There were 22,324 people funded under the nursing home support scheme, Fair Deal, during January.

At the end of January, 2,379 adults were waiting over 15 months for an in-patient or day case procedure, 832 over 18 months and 130 over 24 months. There were 42,157 people waiting over a year for an out-patient appointment, 24,847 over 18 months, and 7,530 over two years.

The HSE’s national service plan is focusing on those waiting the longest so that by the year end no one will wait longer than 15 months for in-patient and day case treatment or for an out-patient appointment.

At the end of January, however, the health service was €24.4m over budget, making it impossible to deliver cost reductions set out in the plan.

The health authority pointed out that cost pressures resulting from the “sustained exceptional level of delayed discharges” were more than that anticipated in the service plan.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar said the performance support showed there had been a tough start to the year.

“2015 was always going to be a challenge and our intensive efforts over the past few months should have some effect, but later in the year.”

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