Hospital overcrowding in Cork City is 'out of control'
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Since the start of March, 974 patients have waited on trolleys in Cork hospitals as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) warns the overcrowding issue has become unsustainable.
On Tuesday, there are 76 people without a bed in the Cork City hospitals — 53 are on trolleys in CUH and 23 in Mercy University Hospital.
The INMO has said the number of patients for whom there are no beds in both hospitals is "now out of control".
The unions has said the situation is completely unsustainable and will result in wide-ranging repercussions.
INMO industrial relations officer Liam Conway said staff were exhausted and completely burnt out and needed the South/Southwest Hospital Group and Government to take meaningful action.
"The fact is we will see dedicated staff who have worked through the pandemic walking out of their jobs if this situation isn't taken seriously," warned Mr Conway.
The admission rates are significantly higher than the discharge rates, he said. The issue of capacity and discharge facilities for complex discharges and delayed discharges must be addressed.
Mr Conway said INMO members in Cork want to see public health measures reinforced in order to support frontline services which are under extreme pressure.
Making the point that both hospitals are located in Cork South Central, which is "well represented" at the Cabinet table, Mr Conway said the needs and concerns of staff must be dealt with in both the short- and medium-term.
An average of 390 patients a week have been left waiting in emergency departments for more than 36 hours since the beginning of this year, new figures have revealed.
If the current rate continues, more than 20,300 people will have waited for over a day and a half in hospital emergency departments by the end of 2022 — double the number from last year.
It would also exceed the 17,727 patients who waited for more than 36 hours in 2019, which was the highest number seen since the HSE began recording the metric in 2015.
Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients Association described the situation reflected by the statistics as “unsafe” and said the current level of overcrowding in hospitals would “cost lives”.
A total of 545 patients waited for over 36 hours in the emergency department at University Hospital Galway between January 1 and March 10 this year — the highest in the state and an average of 55 patients every week.
This was followed by Cork University Hospital, where 526 patients were left in the ED for more than 36 hours during the same period; and Tallaght University Hospital, where 472 people were still in ED after 36 hours.
Last year, the ED with the highest number of patients who had to wait for more than a day and a half was at University Hospital Limerick, where 2,040 people were left on trolleys and in waiting areas for over 36 hours.
The next-highest number was recorded at Cork University Hospital (1,777), followed by University Hospital Galway (1,362) and Tallaght University Hospital (803).
A total of 67 children were left waiting for over 36 hours at the Children’s Health Ireland group in 2021, which was more than the previous two years combined.
Figures collated by the HSE in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane show 84,263 patients have had to wait for more than 36 hours in ED since 2015.
“Overcrowding in emergency departments is unsafe, it costs lives and it causes injury to some patients regardless of their Covid or non-Covid presentation conditions,” said Stephen McMahon, who is a member of the HSE’s ED taskforce.
The statistics show the number of patients left waiting more than 36 hours in ED has remained stubbornly high since 2015, when 10,873 people fell into this category.
A total of 10,034 waited at least this long in 2016, while 10,047 such cases were recorded in the following year. In 2018, the number increased to 13,596 before reaching a record high of 17,727 in 2019.
It fell to 8,029 in 2020 during the height of the pandemic but increased by 26% last year to 10,116.
This year, the hospital group with the highest number of patients who waited in ED for over 36 hours up to March 10 was the South/Southwest Hospital Group, which includes Cork University Hospital, UH Waterford, and UH Kerry, with 1,036 people.
This was followed by Ireland East Hospital Group (842), which includes St Vincent’s University Hospital, MRH Mullingar and Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.
Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, which includes St James’s Hospital, Tallaght University Hospital and MRH Tullamore recorded 782 instances of patients waiting more than 36 hours during the same period.