No HSE funds for ‘patient hotel’ as consultant warns of ‘disaster’ this winter due to overcrowding

A senior consultant at one of the country’s most regularly overcrowded hospitals has warned of “disaster” at the facility this winter after the HSE failed to allocate any of its 2016 budget for a hoped-for “patient hotel” in its winter initiative.

The winter plan published last week said that two options are being “considered” by the HSE to alleviate over-crowding at South Tipperary General Hospital: A “modular build extension” to the existing hospital and fitting out space in an area currently under construction.

“The HSE’s examination of patient hotel-type service will proceed in parallel,” the initiative states.