People are dying unnecessarily due to hospital overcrowding, says incoming IMO president

Hospital trolley, stock, generic

People are dying unnecessarily due to overcrowding in hospitals and staff shortages, the incoming president of the Irish Medical Organisation has warned.

Speaking ahead of the organisation’s annual general meeting, Dr John Cannon warned: “It’s now inevitable that overcrowding and understaffing in the health services is causing avoidable fatalities and poor health outcomes.” 

He went on to say the pressures are leading to patients not getting the treatment they need because hospitals and community health services are full to capacity.

“Tragically, it is inevitable that this capacity crisis is contributing to increased avoidable mortality because patients are being treated in overcrowded hospitals or treatment is being delayed in primary or secondary care settings as capacity cannot meet patient need,” he said.

He called on the Government to act on the crisis and look for solutions urgently.

“We need Government to understand that health spending must meet demand and not be driven solely by fiscal policy, a strong economy depends on a healthy population,” he said.

The population in Ireland is increasing, and at the same time more older people are living longer. This means hospitals and health centres must provide more care and in many cases more complex care while faced with a challenging environment.

“The capacity crisis is real and it is dangerous,” he said. 

Dangerous for patients and dangerous for people working in the health services. We need action and we need it urgently.

He pointed also to more than 900 vacant roles in the consultant workforce, and the struggle facing the HSE to replace retiring GPs.

Meanwhile non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) in training are working “unsafe hours” he said to fill gaps on the rosters.

“There is a shortage of doctors globally and we are simply not doing enough to either retain our workforce or to attract much needed doctors back to Ireland,” he said.

The shortage of hospital beds is leading to overcrowding in emergency departments, he said with patients then facing long waits to get a bed.

An interim report was published by the National Taskforce on the NCHD which put in place to ward off the potential industrial action.

The report said out of 4,152 funded consultant posts only 3,230 are filled permanently with 478 filled by locum doctors.

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Additionally it said: “Of the 444 vacancies, 76% have been vacant for less than one year” indicating 24% had no doctor appointed in over 12 months of searching.

They recommended hospitals provide showering and changing facilities and increase the availability of hot food and free drinking water for doctors.

“A good standard of available food and water must be in place by July 2023,” it says.

A specific financial fund be used to support hospitals in acting on these recommendations, with a final report going to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly by the end of October.

The recommendations also include mandatory induction and training for doctors when they arrive at a new hospital as part of training, with a special emphasis on orientation for doctors trained internationally.

Induction should include issuing doctors with a login to hospital IT systems on their first day, as systems vary between sites.