No sign of improvements in hospitals as over 100,000 go without a bed this year
On disability services, Mr Donnelly said a 'significant additional number' of healthcare professionals need to be hired, and that there were 'several hundred' sanctioned posts yet to be filled. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has admitted there are ‘unacceptable’ shortcomings in the health service, with more than 100,000 patients forced to wait without a bed in hospitals so far this year.
Despite an exceptionally mild autumn and a record budget of €23bn, hospitals all over the country are under intense pressure, with patients regularly waiting 24 hours to be seen by a doctor.
It has also emerged that 232 of the promised 1,156 extra winter beds have not yet been opened.
According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), 100,195 patients have been left waiting on trolleys this year, and of those, 1,903 were children.
In the most extreme cases, patients have waited up to four days for a bed, leading nurses to describe it as "possibly the worst crisis our public hospitals have ever seen".
In the Dáil, Mr Donnelly and Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath conceded to failures in waiting lists, ambulance response times, staff cover, disability services, and bed capacity in regional hospitals. Mr McGrath said:
On disability services, Mr Donnelly said a “significant additional number” of healthcare professionals need to be hired, and that there were "several hundred" sanctioned posts yet to be filled.
Munster hospitals are worst affected by overcrowding, with 15,322 people on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), and 10,107 at Cork University Hospital (CUH) so far this year.
INMO General secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: “We want to highlight what we consider possibly the worst crisis our public hospitals have ever seen at this point in the calendar.”
Nurses can see “very little impact” from increased funding for the HSE Winter Plan, she said.
Ms Ni Sheaghdha visited CUH's emergency department on Monday, where patient numbers are rapidly increasing.
“They’re doing everything they can to make it as comfortable as possible for people, but they just don’t have enough space,” she said.
The biggest challenge for recruitment is finding affordable accommodation in Cork, she said. Public Health Nurse Mary Tully said:
The INMO called for fewer non-urgent operations in hospitals, and a return to the pandemic agreement with the Private Hospitals Association to share the workload.
Ms Ni Sheaghdha also called for a minimum of 1,500 additional nurses, saying some hospitals are running on three-quarters of the required staff.
The HSE service plan for 2021 and Winter Plan for 2021/22 projected an extra 1,156 beds, but 232 of these have yet to open, according to HSE data released to People Before Profit.
The party's health spokesman Gino Kenny said: “This reply from the HSE shows that the government is falling short by about 25% of their own targets for 2021/22 and does not intend to put on extra bed capacity with a harsh winter approaching.”
A UHL spokesman apologised to every patient who has been experiencing long waits for admission at the hospital, and for the inconvenience and frustration caused to their loved ones.
“The fundamental mismatch in our capacity to meet existing and future demand, in terms of beds and staffing resources, must be addressed if we want to end overcrowding in UHL,” he said.
A HSE spokeswoman said they are investing over €168m to support hospitals and community services this winter.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
