Cork and Limerick hospitals apologise to patients for A&E delays
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Hospitals in Cork and Limerick have apologised to patients facing delays in their emergency departments and defended efforts made to address the problem.
The apologies follow the revelation by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation that more than 100,000 people spent a night on either a trolley or chair across in the country's hospitals this year.
Cork University Hospital (CUH), with 10,107 patients on trolleys, and University Hospital Limerick (UHL) with 15,322 patients waiting on a bed, were the worst affected.
A CUH spokesman said staff are working very hard to provide safe care to all patients.
“Cork University Hospital wishes to apologise to all patients who continue to be affected by long waiting periods at the hospital's emergency department,” he said.
A large number of patients have endured lengthy waiting times due to bed shortages, the spokesperson said.
“The hospital has a long-standing challenge with acute inpatient bed capacity on site,” he said.
CUH is working with the HSE locally and with the national office to address this, the spokesman said. A HSE national support team is currently in Cork and has been supporting UHL since the summer.
A UHL spokesman said: “We apologise to every patient who has been experiencing long waits for admission at UHL, and for the inconvenience and frustration this also causes for their loved ones. This is not the standard of healthcare we wish to provide for the people of the Mid-West.”
This year has been the busiest on record for the hospital with emergency department attendances breaking daily records, he said.
UHL's emergency department saw 230 patients on average every day for the last two weeks, up from 210 last year.
A total of 76,473 people were seen at the emergency department last year, with that number expected to be 4% higher this year.
The hospital recently received funding for dedicated staffing roles to ensure patients move through the hospital to the areas where they require treatment.
“The work being done with the HSE national support team builds on existing work and we have seen some improvement in the numbers of admitted patients waiting for a bed in recent weeks,” the UHL spokesperson said.
“However, the fundamental mismatch in our capacity to meet existing and future demand, in terms of beds and staffing resources, must be addressed if we want to end overcrowding in UHL.”
Construction starts this week on a 96-bed block, although up to half of these beds will replace outdated wards which are being closed.
The hospital has again called for an elective hospital to be built in Limerick to care for non-urgent patients.
UHL, like other Irish hospitals, is now funded to send elective patients to private facilities. They expect this year’s total to be 4,500 appointments across 10 different health specialties.
The hospital said 160 people are now waiting more than a year for in-patient or day procedures — down from 1,230 — and this is expected to be reduced to zero by year’s end.
A HSE spokeswoman said overall 1.1m people have attended emergency departments this year, an increase of 5% on last year.
This increase is linked to a growing population, and in particular a growing population of older people. Winter funding of €169m focuses on hospitals and community.