Overcrowding at Waterford hospital meant patients waited over 90 minutes for ambulances

Local TD and Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane said: "Essentially we have had ambulances acting as hospital trolleys.”

Some ambulances, according to staff sources, were held for between four and five hours, meaning they were not free to answer other calls. File picture: Larry Cummins

Seven ambulances were forced to wait outside the Emergency Department at University Hospital Waterford with their patients last week, due to severe overcrowding. “Essentially we had ambulances acting as hospital trolleys,” local TD David Cullinane has said.

The hospital also experienced what it called a challenging holiday period with staff absences due to Covid and Influenza across all disciplines which impacted on the ability to treat patients.

Witnesses and staff who were present at the hospital on December 27 and December 28 have told the Irish Examiner of “chaotic scenes” at Waterford.

Due to a lack of capacity in the ED at the hospital, it was decided to hold patients in the ambulances outside the entrance rather than have them sitting on chairs inside waiting to be admitted.

Some ambulances, according to staff sources, were held for between four and five hours, meaning they were not free to answer other calls.

However, the hospital said there is no policy in place at UHW to “use ambulances to house patients” but sources said that as they had yet to be admitted, they were not counted as being on trolleys.

It said that as a result of the high volume of patients presenting with complex issues, including Covid-19 and Influenza, the ED experienced longer-than-usual wait times for isolation spaces which can cause delays in ambulance turnaround times.

As a result, on those days patients have said they were told the waiting time for an ambulance would be in excess of 90 minutes.

“The team in ED endeavours to clear ambulances for the next call as quickly as possible. UHW is one of the best performing Model 4 sites nationally with over 70% on average turned around within an hour,” the hospital said.

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Speaking to the Irish Examiner, the hospital said that like all hospitals nationally, University Hospital Waterford experienced an exceptionally busy Christmas period for Emergency Department (ED) attendances and ambulance arrivals.

“The dates referenced were exceptionally busy days in the ED with the week up over 24% for attendances and 20% up on admissions on the same time period last year,” the hospital said.

UHW says it continues to perform above national averages for patient experience times (PET) in ED and ambulance turnaround times. While the hospital said it maintained a ‘zero trolley status’ for admitted patients, INMO figures showed that on December 28, there were five people on trolleys.

The hospital had said that it had managed not to have anyone on a trolley since March 2020. The hospital said there is no policy in place to leave patients on chairs as opposed to assessment/treatment on a trolley.

It said patients are assessed clinically by the clinical team in ED and identified as suitable for a cubicle or a chair. “UHW along with other Model 4 hospitals nationally is experiencing an increase in ED attendances and the nature of the conditions presenting unfortunately has caused longer-than-usual wait times for patients,” the hospital said.

UHW General Manager Grace Rothwell said there were 127 staff, including 60 nursing staff, out with illness and that Covid or flu was present on seven wards which has led to restrictions on visitors coming to the hospital.

University Hospital Waterford said there is no policy in place there to “use ambulances to house patients” but sources said that as they had yet to be admitted, they were not counted as being on trolleys. File picture: Denis Minihane

Local TD and Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane said while there are a lot of good things happening at UHW, the reality is there isn’t enough capacity at the hospital.

“Over the past few days, I have been hearing of people not waiting on trolleys but on chairs. People who are very sick, old and frail. I have heard about ambulances parked up, not able to discharge their patients because beds are not available. Essentially we have had ambulances acting as hospital trolleys,” he told the Irish Examiner.

“That is not the way to use the National Ambulance Service, it isn’t perfect in Waterford by any stretch of the imagination,” he added.