Covid-19 sees falls in number of babies assessed and in Emergency Department attendances

There was a 21.3% drop in new Emergency Department attendances to the end of June, at 507,140, and a 28.2% decrease in elective inpatient discharges year to the end of May. Emergency inpatient discharges were down 14.2% to the end of May. File Picture

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the rest of the health service is highlighted in a new HSE report which shows significant falls in presentations and attendance at Emergency Departments and a huge drop in the number of babies assessed at 10 months.

The figures, contained in the Health Service Executive's Performance Profile for the April to June period, shows there were 607,907 emergency presentations by the end of June - a fall of 18.9% against the corresponding period in 2019 and below expected activity of 776,763.

There was a 21.3% drop in new Emergency Department attendances to the end of June, at 507,140, and a 28.2% decrease in elective inpatient discharges year to the end of May. Emergency inpatient discharges were down 14.2% to the end of May.

The number of day case procedures, at 353,975, was down 108,074 against the corresponding period last year.

There has also been an impact on inpatient, day case and outpatient waiting lists. 

According to the report: "The total number of people waiting for inpatient and day case procedures (84,223) is up by 20.9% when the waiting list in June [20]20 is compared with June [20]19.

"The total number of people waiting more than 15 months was up by 3,234 (45.8%) when June [20]20 is compared with June [20]19.

"Total number of people waiting for outpatient appointment was 584,399 in June [20]20, this has increased from 560,251 (+24,148) in June [20]19."

In addition, by the end of June just over 27% of people were waiting less than 13 weeks for a routine colonoscopy, against a target of 65%. 

And while there an increase in the percentage of urgent breast cancer referrals seen within two weeks up to June this year compared with the same period in 2019, just 47.8% of prostate cancer referrals were seen within 20 working days, compared with 65.7% for the same period last year.

The report shows that while 97.8% of newborn babies were visited by a Public Health Nurse within 72 hours year to the end of June, just 67% of babies received their developmental screening checks within 10 months, versus an expected target of 95%. 

In CHO6, covering south Dublin and Wicklow, almost 87% of children were screened within 10 months, falling to just over 60% in CHO4, covering Cork and Kerry, and over 55% in CHO5, covering south Tipperary, Carlow/Kilkenny and Waterford.

While much of adult and child mental health services maintained a regular level of service provision, there was an increase in the number of bed days used by children in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) over the period the staff absentee rate in the year to the end of June, at 7.33%, is more than double the expected target of 3.5%.

The report outlines the measures being undertaken by the HSE to restore the services impacted by the pandemic and by the end of June almost €1.3bn of expenditure was categorised by service areas as directly attributable to Covid-19.