Cork hospitals see drop in post bank holiday trolley numbers 

Improved post-bank holiday trolley figures have been welcomed by health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who credited the change to a greater emphasis on having senior staff available to discharge patients on weekends.

Nationally, the number of patients waiting on emergency department trolleys at 8am over the St Patrick’s bank holiday weekend from Saturday to Monday, was reduced by 70% when compared to the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend this year.

This resulted in a 63% drop in the number of patients waiting on trolleys across Ireland as of 8am on Tuesday morning, when compared with the same Tuesday after the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend in February.

Attendances at emergency departments in hospitals were slightly lower this weekend when compared to the St Brigid’s weekend, but only by 4%.

Cork figures

In Cork, fewer than half the number of patients were on trolleys compared to the previous month’s bank holiday weekend, according to INMO daily trolley figures.

On Tuesday, there were 39 patients on trolleys, including 27 in CUH; seven in the Mercy, and five in Bantry General Hospital. This represented a 61% reduction from a figure of 100 the day after the February bank holiday weekend when there were 74 patients in Cork University Hospital; 21 in the Mercy University Hospital, and five in Bantry General.

Ms Carroll McNeill said the reductions were due to measures she had put in place.

“I was quite alarmed by the growth in the number of patients waiting on trolleys after the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend, which went from 253 to 617 trolleys in a three-day period from Saturday morning to Tuesday morning,” she said. 

“Recognising that this is in large part connected to the presence of senior decisionmakers on site, I requested the HSE to provide a deeper analysis of hospital consultant rostering in all acute hospitals, to cover a focused analysis of future periods’ rostering of senior decisionmakers in the evenings, on weekends and public holidays, initially covering St Patrick’s weekend.”

An increased focus is being put on the delivery of integrated services on a seven-day basis, including ensuring sufficient senior decision makers are rostered to discharge patients throughout the entire week, including evenings, weekends, and public holidays.

Dr Andy Phillips, regional executive officer HSE South West, said: “I am very proud of all our staff who planned and delivered high-quality care during the busy St Patrick’s weekend.

“Our doctors, nurses, and health and social care professional staff once again went above and beyond.

“Thanks to those efforts, we were able to deliver even higher quality care when compared with the most recent St Brigid’s weekend and last year’s St Patrick’s weekend.

“While it is not acceptable that any patient is waiting on a trolley to be admitted to a hospital, it is nonetheless important to acknowledge progress.”