‘Seasonal pressures’ blamed for 38% spike in trolley figures

The Department of Health has blamed “seasonal pressures”, including staff leave, for a 38% spike in trolley figures which has infuriated nurses.

Yesterday the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO) said progress in tackling the trolley crisis, aided by a national agreement reached in March, had been undone in the second week of July with 1,839 patients on trolleys compared with 1,336 for the same period last year.

“We will be demanding guarantees from management at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that this trend will be halted,” said INMO deputy general secretary Dave Hughes.

Mr Hughes said the national agreement made with the INMO and underwritten by the WRC had worked and they were not prepared to “allow the situation slip back to a continuous state of chaos”.

The March agreement provides, inter alia, for the filling, as a matter of urgency, of all vacant nursing posts and other posts required to deal with admitted patients, either in emergency departments (EDs) or on wards.

Mr Hughes said improved weather conditions at this time of year should have led to a fall in trolley figures and he called for the urgent filling of frontline posts as well as progress on initiatives to expand bed capacity.

The Department of Health blamed a 6% rise in the number of patients presenting at EDs compared to this time last year, as well as “seasonal pressures” due to trainee doctors’ July rotation, increased staff leave and higher elective rates. The department also blamed the older age demographic of the population and a recent rise in delayed discharges.

The department said Health Minister Simon Harris had met with the HSE national director for acute hospitals last Friday to discuss the proposed measures to address trolley numbers and it was agreed the HSE Special Delivery Unit “will continue to maintain a strong focus on ensuring that hospitals improve performance in managing ED pressures”.