Beds crisis reaches breaking point

The Government has been urged to take action on the hospital capacity crisis, as trolley wait figures reached reached 500 for the first time today.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) says this is the highest number of patients awaiting admission through EDs since it started collating trolley figures a number of years ago.

INMO Deputy General Secretary Dave Hughes pointed out that Health Minister Mary Harney, back in 2006, declared A&E overcrowding a national emergency when trolley figures reached 495.

He said the Government must now take action to reopen closed beds in hospitals affected by overcrowding and to allow HSE employ staff to look after the patients.

The INMO says a total of 896 beds are currently closed in hospitals around the country. The HSE's service plan, which is currently awaiting approval by Health Minister Mary Harney, is proposing further bed closures.

According to the INMO, the hospital capacity crisis has been caused by a combination of the recent bad weather, the crisis in the public finances,  bed closures, the problem of delayed discharge of patients and the shortage of medical doctors.

Mr Hughes said much of the progress made in recent years in relieving ED and bed pressure has suffered a setback because of these factors

"There are hospitals this week experiencing excessive trolley waits that have not featured in our statistics for a long time. Unfortunately, these hospitals tend to correlate to the locations in which the HSE has had to close beds due to lack of funding or lack of staff."

The latest figures show that 50 patients were awaiting admission on trolleys in in Beaumont Hospital's emergency department. The next highest figure was at Cork University Hospital, where 44 were on trolleys.

The INMO said the situation in some hospitals was intolerable and the fact that the misery was being imposed on patients and the staff trying to care for them is "shameful".

The union said there should be a concentrated team approach within hospitals to speed up discharge of patients for whom it is safe to do so, in addition to Government action on closed beds and staff shortages.

It was revealed today that 272,000 bed days were "lost" last year as a result of patients remaining in beds after their acute care had ended, as no alternative accommodation could be found for them.

According to most recent statistics from the HSE, for October, there were 708 of these delayed discharge patients in hospitals. The HSE said the number had reduced recently "due to the introduction of continuing care discharge options" in the community.

The HSE statistics show that there are around 839 acute beds unavailable for a number of reasons at the end of October last. This is in addition to beds not available through delayed discharges.

Most of the bed closures were planned.

See also 'Why we have a beds crisis'

[Posted: Wed 20/01/2010]