Flu blamed for surge in number of patients waiting on trolleys

Flu has been blamed for a surge in the number of patients on trolleys waiting to be admitted to a hospital bed yesterday.

There were 541 admitted patients on trolleys in emergency departments and on wards yesterday, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The worst hit hospitals were University Hospital Limerick, with 44 patients waiting on trolleys while Cork University Hospital and Letterkenny University Hospital each had 36.

The INMO's Trolley Watch counts the number of admitted patients in EDs and on wards who are waiting for a free bed.

Health Minister, Simon Harris, said a surge in the number of patients on trolleys was expected:

“Obviously, that has now happened. We have seen a significant increase in the number of patients waiting for hospital beds in our health service today."

He said the HSE's TrolleyGAR shows that 382 admitted patients were on trolleys in EDs - an 8% decrease compared to the same day last year.

“But the flu has now arrived and the strain of the flu that has arrived is H1N1, which obviously is the swine flu,” he said.

Last week the HSE warned that swine flu could become a potentially serious health issue.

The minister urged everybody to take the public health information given by the HSE very seriously. It is not too late to get vaccinated and the vaccine has been shown to be very effective in relation to the H1N1 flu strain.

Groups, particularly at risk from this strain of flu, are pregnant women and people under the age of 65 with pre-existing conditions.

We are entering a challenging period as we knew we always would.

Earlier the HSE's national director of acute operations, Liam Woods, said they are now seeing an “upshift” in the rate of hospital admissions and they believe it is associated with the flu.

Mr Woods said the National Treatment Purchase Fund has approved 1,300 orders for the provision of diagnostics in the private health sector to support patient flow.

The NTPF is also supporting a number of specific procedures to free up hospital beds.

Mr Woods said urgent elective surgical and medical care continues but other electives are “not booked in” during the first few weeks of January to allow for the impact of flu and increased demand.

Assistant national director of public health at the HSE, Dr Kevin Kelleher, said there will be “a big surge” in flu in the coming weeks as schools reopen and people return to work: “The big issue for us is how it will impact on the elderly."

The minister was also asked about the announcement today by the INMO of strike dates following a two-day meeting of their elected council.

The strikes will see INMO members withdraw their labour for 24-hour periods.

The last thing the health service needs is a strike. I also don't believe that our nurses want to see strike action.

He said he hopes that they will be able to engage with the INMO through the “appropriate structures” in the coming days on how they should consider matters.

However, any engagement has to be cognisant of the fact that they have a public sector pay agreement, he noted:

“Signing up to an agreement comes with benefits but it also comes with obligations. I really hope that everybody could put their shoulder to the wheel to work to avert a dispute.”