HSE acute hospitals' chief apologises over overcrowding

The head of the HSE’s acute hospitals division has apologised for the recent weeks of overcrowding.

“The scenes of over-crowding that we witnessed at the start of January were distressing for both patients and staff and for that we apologise,” HSE national director Liam Woods said.

He yesterday told a meeting of the Oireachtas joint committee on health that until there was a more community-based system of healthcare, the HSE would continue to be challenged in delivering the service they would wish for their patients.

He said there had been a “substantial rise” in activity in urgent and emergency care last year.

There were 310,000 emergency ambulance calls — up 4% on 2015 figures; 1.15m emergency department attendances, a 4.9% increase, and 286,701 ED admissions, up 5.3%.

He said there were currently around 150 acute beds and 190 community beds closed within the public health system due to essential refurbishment, infection prevention, and control and staffing deficits.

Flu and respiratory-related illnesses started to increase in mid-December, earlier than in 2015, with the highest ever number of respiratory admissions recorded in hospitals.

Mr Woods said EDs found that over-75s represented 14% of the total ED attendances for December last, compared to the previous year, and there was a 12% increase in the over 75s admitted to hospital.

“The early onset of influenza, coupled with a significant rise in respiratory illnesses during the holiday period put further pressure on an already-stretched system, particularly in the context of over 75s.”

General secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Patricia King, said senior managers and consultants should be immediately rostered over an extended day and on a seven-day week basis to ease hospital overcrowding, at least until the end of the winter.

“This will aid the speed of decision making, within the hospital environment, thus assisting patient flow as decisions to admit, discharge or refer are made quicker,” she told the committee.

President of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, Dr Emily O’Conor, said the “boarding” of admitted patients on trolleys in EDs was the “overflow valve” of the Irish healthcare system.