Health system 'ready to buckle' - Cork hospital records busiest ED numbers in country

A CORK TD has said that the health system is “ready to buckle” as Cork University Hospital had the busiest emergency department (ED) nationally yesterday.

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said the Government “must step in” and create a solution to the current trolley crisis.

A total of 76 patients were without a bed in CUH’s ED yesterday. Meanwhile, there were 21 patients on trolleys in the Mercy’s ED. Nationally, there were 760 patients on trolleys on Monday morning, the highest number of patients seen on trolleys since January 2020, according to the Irish Midwives and Nurses Organisation (INMO).

The INMO called on the HSE, the Government, and hospitals to “take urgent action” on the issue and urged the worst impacted hospitals to enact their emergency protocols.

The INMO’s general secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, said the record overcrowding “was entirely predictable” and something the INMO had been warning about.

“Behind these figures are patients who are being stripped of their dignity and privacy while being deemed sick enough to be admitted to hospital.”

“We know that more often than not our members are working in conditions that are unsafely staffed, meaning that providing safe care in an overcrowded environment is impossible,” said Ms Ní Sheaghdha.

“It is clear that our public health service cannot cope with this level of overcrowding. Serious and immediate intervention is needed from the new Taoiseach and the Minister for Health.

Echoing the INMO’s call for the HSE and the Government to “take extraordinary measures” to help alleviate overcrowding, Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould raised concerns about the “huge issue with recruitment and retention of staff”.

“It’s catch-22 because the more you lose, the harder it is on the staff that are here. A lot of them are considering leaving as a result. Expecting doctors and nurses and all staff to work those hours under the pressure and the stress... they’re at breaking point.”

Mr Gould also spared a thought for those who will find themselves on trolleys over the Christmas and new year period, about whom he said “your heart would go out to”.

“In CUH the staff can’t do any more than they are doing. They are doing everything.”

He said we are now at crisis point coming into the Christmas and new year period as the weather worsens.

“This is the reality, what’s happening in CUH, and the Government must step in. The health system is ready to buckle.”

Overall, University Hospital Limerick was the busiest hospital in the country yesterday with 92 patients on trolleys, 47 of whom were in the emergency department, with 45 in overflow areas of wards.

The South/South West Hospital Group was contacted by The Echo for comment.