HSE says overcrowding in hospitals could get worse before it gets better
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The interim CEO of the HSE has said that his organisation has initiated a "whole system response" to the ongoing hospital overcrowding crisis, which he suggested may get worse before getting better.
Stephen Mulvany is visiting University Hospital Limerick (UHL) this morning, which has experienced some of the most severe overcrowding of any hospital in the country in recent weeks.
"This morning's visit is part of a series of visits to all of our hospital sites, last week, this week and next week," he said.
He said that the purpose of the visits was to "be on the ground to understand directly from staff and managers what is happening, to be visible and offer support and in some cases we can take away some items to try and problem resolve, national issues we can clarify."
He said that some of the patient wait times of up to 60 hours reported in some hospitals in recent days were "just not acceptable to anybody."
To try and free up bed space, Mr Mulvany said the HSE was "going through every single piece of capacity in the community."
"We have a team nationally working with our nine community health organisations which is literally looking, unit by unit, at all of the public community beds and all the private community beds to see what beds are closed that could possibly be reopened.
"We're engaging with HIQA to see what can safely be done around admissions. We don't want to give a false expectation here, but we are making sure that there's no stone left unturned."
Asked how many extra beds these actions had freed up, Mr Mulvany said that 60 beds had been identified across two or three sites that "have or can be reopened."
He also said that a further 145 beds had been secured up to Thursday via discussions with the Private Hospitals Association and that he hoped more would be secured soon.
"We will take every additional bed that they can put up those conversations are ongoing."
Mr Mulvany told RTÉ Radio's that, on top of hospital beds, the HSE was also looking for extra capacity "across the entire system" including through extra GP slots and home support hours.
"The key thing is we can't assume that any one part of this will solve it, so additional acute hospital beds have to fit into an overall integrated system and the processes have to work well."
On Thursday, it was announced that ambulances operating in the midwest region would begin transporting 999/112 patients to Ennis General Hospital from next Monday as part of measures aimed at alleviating some of the pressure on UHL's emergency department.
Asked whether other category-two hospitals elsewhere in the country might be used this way, Mr Mulvany said the Ennis move was based on a successful pilot in Mallow over the past three months.
"It's part of our ongoing efforts to make sure there's nothing we haven't talked about," he added.
On Thursday, a pensioner who spent 57 hours on a chair in a crowded hospital emergency department blasted senior Government ministers over the trolley crisis, saying “they should hang their heads in shame”.
Patricia McCarthy, aged 70, spoke out from the hospital bed she finally secured in Cork University Hospital four days after she presented at the emergency department there.
“I am shocked that this has been allowed to happen in my city where we have three senior Government ministers,” she said.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Finance Minister Michael McGrath, and Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney represent the city.