Stephen Donnelly 'not satisfied' overcrowded hospitals doing enough to manage patient flow

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly visits the new South Dublin surgical hub site today. Picture: Bryan Brophy

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said he is “not yet satisfied” that all hospitals struggling with overcrowding this week are doing enough to manage patient flow.

Paramedics are facing waits of over five hours in some areas before they can transfer patients into overcrowded hospitals and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has highlighted high trolley numbers in many sites.

Mr Donnelly said: “We’re aware of some of the bigger hospitals that are consistently under pressure.

I’m not yet satisfied that everything that needs to be done is being done in those hospitals in terms of patient flow, senior management — it is getting better. I think we have a ways to go.

He told the Irish Examiner  that a seven-day week implemented across all areas is needed so that patients whose treatment is complete can be discharged home.

“The answer to the capacity issue is partly patient flow; we are focusing on patient discharge, delayed transfer of care,” he said.

“I’ve made the point for some time now, as has Bernard Gloster, we have to move from five days a week to seven-days-a-week service. Of course in all of our hospitals there are people working at weekends.” 

He said in hospitals with a high weekend discharge rate, delays such as high trolley counts and ambulances backed up at the emergency department are not common.

“In other hospitals, where they do have that problem [ambulance delays], there is congestion; you’ll see that the weekend discharge rates are too low,” he said.

“There must be reform. We can only be adding more capacity and more beds if we are also seeing a move to seven days a week, weekend discharge, and very effective patient flow.” 

Mr Donnelly acknowledged that hospital consultants have called for more beds in the system as the solution, and said funding is provided for this. 

He was speaking at the former Mt Carmel Maternity Hospital in Dublin, which will host one of six planned surgical hubs. These will carry out operations which do not require the patient to be admitted overnight, to help address waiting lists for elective procedures. 

Planning applications have been lodged for similar hubs in Cork, Limerick, and Waterford.