No beds in Cork hospitals for 875 patients in August

A total of 875 patients went without a bed in Cork hospitals in August, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

The high summer figures have worried staffing representatives, as the demand of the traditionally busy winter period has yet to materialise.

The majority of those patients on trolleys in Cork hospitals last month were in CUH (792), while 70 people were on trolleys in the Mercy University Hospital, and 13 in Bantry General Hospital.

Nationally, 8,055 patients went without a bed in hospitals in August, the INMO said.

Liam Conway, assistant director of industrial relations in the INMO, said the number of admitted patients on trolleys reflected a worrying trend nationally, and particularly in Cork.

“Additional bed capacity is an absolute minimum requirement to tackle this crisis,” he said. 

“Funding must be provided by the Department of Health to the HSE South West to facilitate additional bed capacity and staffing for this winter for stepdown facilities such as rehab beds.

“Safe staffing levels must be maintained, and the HSE’s own pay and numbers strategy has had a devastating impact on services in which key posts are yet to be filled.

“We have many nursing posts across Cork and Kerry yet to be filled — particularly in specialist areas such as oncology, paediatrics, and clinical nurse specialist posts.”

Mr Conway said that until additional capacity and additional staff were allocated, chronic overcrowding would continue in hospitals in Cork and across the country, with patients being cared for on trolleys in emergency departments and wards.

“This should never be acceptable, and there is an urgent requirement to fund the solutions immediately,” he said.

INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the HSE needed to heed the warnings of Australian colleagues who had witnessed a record-breaking flu season this year.

“Our public health system cannot cope with a deluge of respiratory illnesses over the coming months,” she said.

“Each HSE regional health authority must outline in detail what it plans to do to radically reduce, not just the number of patients being treated in inappropriate spaces, but the amount of time a patient is spending on a trolley.”

She added that those who depend on the health services to function deserve to know what plans the HSE will have in place to ensure that care can be provided safely in the community over this traditionally busy time.

“Unless we see a hospital-by-hospital plan to tackle overcrowding, we are in for a very bleak winter in Irish hospitals, which will see nurses and patients in extremely unsafe circumstances,” she said.

A HSE spokesperson said it regretted that anyone might experience a long wait for care, stating: “The HSE has, and continues to, work with the health regions and hospitals to minimise the numbers of patients on trolleys.

“On a daily basis, regardless of season, the health regions optimise capacity to meet demand from both scheduled and unscheduled care.”

Factors such as increased emergency department demand, planned elective activity, infection prevention and control, staffing, availability of community and stepdown beds, and availability of surge capacity all influenced the meeting of demand and the facilitation of admissions to hospital beds, they stated.

The spokesperson added: “There continues to be collective effort right across services to improve access and ensure patients receive the best care possible.”