Taoiseach: older people presenting to hospital with more acute illness post-pandemic 

The Taoiseach has said that older people are presenting to hospitals sicker than ever due to a "Covid legacy" issue. Picture: PA

The Taoiseach has said that older people are presenting to hospitals sicker than ever due to a "Covid legacy" issue.

On Wednesday, the Irish Examiner revealed that 1,000 older people waited for more than a day for a hospital bed in January. 

Micheál Martin was responding to questioning on the matter from Mary Lou McDonald during Leaders' Questions. The Sinn Féin leader said that the Taoiseach had called a case in 2015 "a scandal" and she put it to him that the January figures represent "1,100 scandals".

Mr Martin said there have been record attendances in our emergency departments (EDs) over the last month and that it is "worrying" that the majority of people over 75 years presenting to EDs are doing so "with more acute illnesses than would have been the case in previous times".

 Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald TD asked the Taoiseach how the Government was going to address the waiting times to get hospital bed especially for older people. Picture :Gareth Chaney/Collins

Ms McDonald told the Dáil the crisis "has not fallen out of the sky". She said the salary of both the head of the HSE Paul Reid and Secretary General of the Department of Health Robert Watt should be scrutinised.

"The Minister for Health sits on his hands and the HSE fails to act. Yesterday, in the Taoiseach's own neck of the woods, Cork University Hospital registered its highest number of patients recorded on trolleys since the trolley count began.

"What exactly is the Minister for Health doing? What exactly is the HSE doing? The Taoiseach tells us we had to pay big bucks to get big results. The Minister for Health is paid €225,000, Paul Reid of the HSE is paid €412,000 and Robert Watt who is the Secretary General of the Department is paid €298,000. I believe that when you pay people that kind of money you expect big results. You expect that the job is done."

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the Department of Health said Mr Donnelly "acknowledges the distress overcrowded EDs cause to patients, their families, and frontline staff working in very challenging conditions in hospitals throughout the country".

It said a €1.1 billion investment in community respiratory teams and community supports is in place, but Covid hospitalisations are continuing and a priority is to help people avoid EDswhere possible.

"EDs nationwide are showing high attendances which exceed last winter and have exceeded winter 2019/20 in recent weeks. 

"While attendance and admission numbers have now returned to pre-pandemic levels, the continued requirement to provide separate Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 pathways presents an additional challenge to patient flow in all hospitals and EDs. There were 631 people in hospital with covid this morning (63 in ICU)," it said.

"The Plan also focuses on improving the patient experience in the ED by improving Patient Experience Times (PET) and reducing ED congestion. A specific focus will be on improving compliance with PET targets. The National Service Plan 2021 set a target to have 95% overall attendees aged 75 or over admitted or discharged within six hours of registration. The target increases to 99% at nine and 24 hours."