Cork and Kerry hospital patients have a worse experience than those in Dublin, minister admits

This week has seen pressures surge due to the flu and freezing weather following a quieter than expected Christmas, a situation that Ms Carroll MacNeill acknowledged. Picture: iStock

Patients attending hospitals in Cork, Kerry, and Galway have a worse experience than those in Dublin, the health minister has admitted, as she criticised the failure to get to grips with overcrowding in these regions.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill also suggested that patients offered transfers by large hospitals to smaller hospitals should be more willing to move for stepdown care.

Fixing overcrowding is a key priority this year, she said, singling out Cork, Kerry, Galway, and its surrounds for particular criticism.

This week has seen pressures surge due to the flu and freezing weather following a quieter than expected Christmas, a situation that Ms Carroll MacNeill acknowledged.

"I think it's fair to say, if you were to look at the admittance to discharge figures in Cork, CUH, and Galway, I think it's not good enough yet,” she said.

“If I were living in Cork, I would reasonably ask why can't I have the predictability or the relative predictability that we achieve in the Mater or Beaumont or St James's [in Dublin],” she said.

"I just think the people in Cork and Galway deserve the same experience, and we have to interrogate that as much as possible to make sure we achieve it. And I do believe we will achieve it."

During the last year, all hospitals moved to a seven-day week. Other changes included using surge beds on day wards instead of trolleys. So far, this has helped avoid the shocking overcrowding of January three years ago. But Cork and Galway are lagging despite some progress, she said.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said: “Cork and Galway are further behind on this journey of process change, but to be very fair, they have certainly come a distance.” 

Trolley numbers

Kerry has a particular norovirus issue this week, she said, as HSE data shows 32 people on trolleys there on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Munster, "Limerick is performing really well", she said.

"They are discharging around 100 people per day despite very increased attendances. While they do have challenges around trolleys today [Thursday], it’s not for the same reasons as Cork and Galway.” 

In general, she said all 29 hospitals in the HSE are “really, really, really together” on reforms. She raised concerns about stepdown care in some regions.

Mallow Hospital runs a transfer from the Cork University Hospital (CUH) programme. This saw 705 patients transferred in the first 10 months of 2024, a project update stated.

Ms Carroll MacNeill indicated this needs to be expanded, saying: “There are empty beds in Mallow consistently."

It was put to her that many people, especially in larger counties such as Donegal or Kerry, are reluctant to travel. She said: "If somebody is in an acute hospital and they no longer need acute care, and somebody else needs acute care, then they do need to move.

People have to move out of acute hospitals to care that is appropriate for them; they do that in other regions

HSE South-West did not wish to comment.

HSE West and North-West said Galway Hospital is “currently challenged with bed capacity, delayed discharges, and high numbers of patients being treated for flu and RSV".

"However, we are doing everything we can to optimise the flow of patients through the hospital," it said.

“This is not the standard of care that we want for patients of our services, and we regret that any patient would have to wait for a hospital bed in this way. This is a patient safety issue.” 

Surge beds are in use, but it said “there remains a shortage of beds”. Last year, emergency department numbers were up 6.3.

It listed key reforms in place, but said: “Existing facilities are outdated and lack the space and design needed to support modern, state-of-the-art healthcare delivery.

“A new emergency department and 300 new in-patient beds are key elements of the long-term development plans for the hospital.”

• Niamh Griffin is the Health Correspondent for the Irish Examiner.