CUH emergency department operating 300% over capacity

THE clinical director of emergency and acute care at Cork University Hospital (CUH) has warned of “a massive capacity issue” at the hospital’s emergency department.

Professor Conor Deasy said that emergency department attendances at CUH are up 33% when compared to this time last year.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland yesterday, Mr Deasy said the emergency department (ED) was running at over 300% capacity, with 117 patients admitted.

Mr Deasy said the current environment is “dreadful” for patients and “very difficult” for staff. He said there were 45 trolleys in the emergency department yesterday morning — 45 people waiting for an inpatient bed. There were also 14 additional patients on trolleys in wards elsewhere in the hospital.

“These patients deserve to be in a hospital bed, a ward bed, and they’re being accommodated on the corridors of the wards to try and create space in the emergency department so we can offload the next ambulance that comes in,” he said.

“So, we simply have a massive capacity issue. We have a baseline lack of capacity and at times like this where you’ve got a real exponential surge in attendances, we’re not able to cope with it effectively and safely.”

He said the ED has seen a 33% increase in attendances compared to this time last year, and there has been a 40% increase in attendances by those aged over 75 years.

Mr Deasy said hospital overcrowding is an issue people have become immune to, but said that this overcrowding “is costing lives”.