Hundreds of Cork patients experienced delayed transfer of care due to insufficient discharge facilities

In the first four months of this year, more than 320 Cork patients occupied a hospital bed, despite being ready for discharge, due to insufficient facilities to discharge them into.

The term ‘delayed transfer of care’ refers to a patient who is occupying an acute hospital bed despite no longer requiring acute hospital care, due to there not being a suitable place for them to transfer into, with insufficient nursing home beds the most frequently cited issue.

The average number of days a patient waited in Cork University Hospital due to a delayed transfer of care last year was 31.8, above the national average of 24.8 days across all Irish acute hospitals.

People also waited an average of 18.9 days in Mercy University Hospital to be transferred out of an acute bed, according to data provided to Labour TD Marie Sherlock by the HSE.

Further data provided to Ms Sherlock shows that 322 Cork patients experienced a delayed transfer of care between the start of January and the end of April this year.

In Cork’s five main hospitals — Cork University Hospital, Mercy University Hospital, South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, Mallow General Hospital and Bantry General Hospital, 99 people’s departure was delayed due to a lack of nursing home and other residential care places. 

A further 76 people needed a bed in a rehabilitation or step down facility, 92 were listed as having “complex clinical needs”, and 21 people needed home support services.

There were also 19 people who were not discharged as they were homeless, seven because of legal complexities or concern about their decision making capacity, while eight were listed as occupying beds due to “non-compliance/cooperation with process”.

Ms Sherlock said that the cost of an acute daybed is about €1,300, five times the cost of a community unit bed per day.

Nationally, the bed days lost in acute hospitals because of delays to discharging patients comes at an average cost to acute hospitals of over €20m every month, she said, describing it as “a woefully ineffective way to use money”.

It comes as 13,756 people were treated on trolleys in Cork’s three emergency departments in CUH, the Mercy and Bantry last year, and 8,629 so far this year, representing an 8% increase in the monthly average.

Labour Party councillor and chair of the HSE South West Regional Health Forum, Peter Horgan, said that the figures mean patients remain in acute hospital beds for weeks longer than necessary, while others wait on trolleys in overcrowded emergency departments.