Management apologises to elderly woman who spent 26 hours on hospital trolley

Senior management at Tallaght Hospital are meeting with the family of an elderly woman to apologise for her treatment at its emergency department this week.

The 101-year-old spent 26 hours waiting to be admitted, even receiving a blood transfusion while lying on a hospital trolley.

Management at the Hospital have apologised to the woman and her family, saying that the delay was "unacceptable".

"On behalf of the hospital I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise to the patient and to her family for the unacceptable delay that she experienced on Monday and Tuesday of this week," said the hospital's deputy CEO Sarah McMickan.

The emergency consultant who treated the patient described the incident as "unforgivable and "a human rights abuse".

Dr James Gray said that HIQA and hospital management were notified, but failed to act.

"We write to HIQA all the time," he said.

"Whenever we have any sort of crowding difficulties in Tallaght hospital, we would alert them.

"The response is usually kind of along the lines of 'Thank you for your concerns, please continue to raise your concerns with your local management, and indeed the HSE … as you have been doing' - but they can't really action the recommendations that they've given us.

"It's a major failing for them."

Derek Reilly, the INMO's representative in Tallaght, said that it was very distressing for staff to have to treat the elderly lady on a trolley for that length of time.

"It is very distressing for staff to deal with this sort of situation, and it happens a lot, not only in Tallaght emergency department but in all emergency departments throughout the country," he said.

"It is wrong, absolutely morally and ethically wrong, to have someone that age on a trolley for that long."

5pm UPDATE:Tallaght Hospital statement in full:

Tallaght Hospital apologises for the delay that occurred in allocating an in-patient bed to an elderly patient earlier this week.

Management met with the family of the patient this afternoon to convey its apologies to them directly. The hospital fully accepts that no patient should be forced to wait for a bed and that priority should be given to elderly patients in allocation of beds.

A review of the particular circumstance that gave rise to the unacceptable delays in this case is in process and appropriate measures are being put in place to mitigate the risk of recurrence.

A number of contributory factors were at play with regard to the incident, one of which was a peak in patient numbers due to the Bank Holiday weekend.

Another underlying factor is a 25% increase over the past 2 years of older patients presenting at ED with more complex medical requirements.

The hospital therefore experiences periodic peaks in numbers attending its Emergency Department.

Efforts are constantly in train to improve patient flow processes from the Emergency Department through to the medical wards.

This includes more use of step-down beds in the community and several initiatives under the Irish Hospital Redesign Programme.

Tallaght Hospital recently confirmed a reconfiguration of services which will lead to the setting up of a new Frail Elderly unit with increased bed capacity and enhanced clinical procedures, all of which are aimed at enabling speedier access for older patients to in-patient beds, diagnostics and treatment.

The €5m upgrade of the Emergency Department is also nearing completion and will provide extra capacity.

This will see the provision of an additional eight major cubicles, two isolation rooms, eight ambulatory care cubicles and an additional triage space.

This is a major upgrade of the Emergency Department and the additional space and equipment provided will enhance the service the hospital provides to the community.

The hospital is also actively recruiting new staff for all the initiatives outlined above.