Man, 90, 'begged the nurses to give his wife a bed'

A 90-year-old man had to beg staff at Cork University Hospital to give his wife a bed after she had been left on a trolley for days.

A 90-year-old man had to beg staff at Cork University Hospital to give his wife a bed after she had been left on a trolley for hours.

Bernadette Walshe phoned The Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s RedFM, saying her mother, who is 89 next month - had not been feeling well and had been referred to the Bons Secours Hospital before being transferred to the CUH.

She was sent to the CUH for a suspected stroke. It was later found to be a respiratory problem.

Speaking to Red FM, Ms Walshe said: "Because they suspected it was a stroke she was brought straight to a cubicle.

"So my mom went through the doors approximately about half-past five on Friday evening and my mom spent up to Sunday evening in a cubicle where 48 hours had passed at this stage.

"Mum seemed quite content in there. She was getting excellent care, and we didn't have an issue with this.

"But at 7 o'clock on that evening [Sunday], there was an emergency came in. And my poor mom, who is [88], had to be moved out into the hallway again.

Ms Walshe said it was "chronic" in the A&E at that time. She said that her dad, who had spent 20 hours on a trolley last April, "went up and begged the nurses to give his wife a bed".

"But unfortunately they could do nothing for my dad."

Ms Walshe said she went home to west Cork and rang the hospital's bed management at 10 o'clock.

She said: "I asked them could they explain to me why my mother of [nearly] 89 years of age has been in a trolley for so long when other people had gone in ahead of her and had been allocated beds [in a ward]?

"They told me...the response first was 'we have no private rooms left'.

"And I said, look, it doesn't matter. Can I just get my mom, who is very distressed because she has respiratory problems and she has an overload of fluid and a chest infection...

"I said this is not a suitable environment for my mom for all the obvious reasons.

"So they said at 10 o'clock that night 'we will consider opening a five-day ward. And if we do we'll transfer your mom'."

Ms Walshe said she asked "on whose authority do you make this decision?"

When she asked if it was a managerial authority or a staffing authority she was not provided with an answer.

Cork University Hospital

A spokesperson for the CUH said: "At Cork University Hospital, the decision to open additional beds is dependent on the availability of staff.

"This is reviewed by hospital management on an on-going basis."

Ms Walshe said her mother had been a staff nurse and she explained to staff "my mother was part of the health care system, could you at least - please - give my mom a little bit of respect and dignity.

"And just take her off the trolley and just allocate her a bed."

Ms Walshe said she was concerned for her mother on the trolley as she had a chest infection.

"At 12 o'clock, they opened the ward and they allocated my mom - and four other people - to the ward," said Ms Walshe.

She said she rang risk management to highlight how dangerous it was for elderly people to be on trolleys in A&E.

She said she was not just ringing for her own mother but for "all of the elderly people of Ireland who are getting lost in a system that is not fit for purpose."

Speaking to The Echo, Ms Walshe said: "Elderly people should not be put into general A&E. They are the most vulnerable patients. They are at risk of more health complications.

“They are confused and disorientated, they are wailing and crying, trying to get out of their beds.

“The trauma experienced by these people comes home and we have to pick up the pieces.”

Ms Walshe told Red FM that she told risk management that there should be an A&E especially for elderly people.

She told The Echo that staff in the hospital "are excellent".

"They are trying their best. It’s not them, they are up against the structure and the system.

They are minus 60 beds at the start of the day. You can judge a society by the way it treats its elderly. What sort of society are we living in?

Ms Walshe said, as of this morning, her mother is still in the CUH in a mixed five-bed ward.

Earlier this morning, the INMO revealed that there are 492 patients on waiting for beds in Irish hospitals.

The Trolley Watch figures show that 349 are waiting in the emergency department, while 143 are in wards elsewhere in the hospital.

University Hospital Limerick is the worst hit hospital with 75 patients on trolleys, followed by the CUH with 52 patients waiting for beds.