New A&E won’t fix MUH waits – Kilcoyne

A MEMBER of the HSE Regional Health Forum West has warned patients will continue to lie on trolleys in the new emergency department in Mayo University Hospital (MUH) unless 75 new hospital beds are added.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne has said a new accommodation block will be need to be built at MUH to halt ongoing overcrowding

The Independent councillor made his comments after a planning application was submitted to Mayo County Council for a new emergency department at the hospital.

The application includes a two-storey extension with a rooftop plant room to the existing courtyard. This will expand the ground floor emergency department and introduce a new acute medical admissions unit (AMAU) at the first floor.

The AMAU will be equipped with new patient cubicles, a patient sit-down treatment area, triage and consultation rooms and staff support facilities. Accessible ensuite patient rooms will also be available at this level.

It is proposed that these upgrades will lead to seven new assessment and treatment spaces in the emergency department. The new first-floor medical assessment unit will also provide an additional ten assessment spaces for unscheduled care and ancillary services.

Mayo TD Alan Dillon estimated that a decision would be made on the planning application in the first quarter of 2024, with construction to commence the following year.

No exact costings are currently available for the project.

More beds needed

Cllr Kilcoyne, a long-tome advocate for improved facilities at MUH, said that a new accommodation block would be ‘crucial’ for the new emergency department to have any benefit.

“That’s fine, except it will be two years or two-and-a-half years before there’s actually patients in it. But when a patient is gone through A&E the person is going to be kept in hospital, they need a place to put the patient,” Cllr Kilcoyne told The Mayo News.

INMO figures recently revealed that 4,404 patients were left without a bed in MUH in 2023, which was down only marginally on the record total of 4,407 in 2022.

The October meeting of the HSE Forum West heard that 31 patients spent more than 24 hours on a trolley in MUH during January, March, May, July and August while 29 patients were on trolleys in April and 28 each in February and June.

“The reason that A&E is so blocked is because there are no beds around the hospital,” said Cllr Kilcoyne.

“The HSE is on record as saying to me that they need a block for about 70 beds or about 75 beds. There’s no word of that, that’s crucial. You can’t have one without the other.”

Highlighted in report

At present, construction work is ongoing to an extension to house a new CT scanner at the hospital.

The hospital sterile-services department reconfiguration and upgrade is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by the end of this year or early 2024.

Under the recently lodged planning application, the existing emergency department at the ground floor will undergo refurbishment and will feature a dedicated paediatric area, upgraded resuscitation facilities and minor injuries facilities.

The extension will add more patient cubicles, a patient isolation facility, a gynaecology treatment suite, and associated staff and clinical support facilities.

The application also includes a single-storey extension for a new ambulance entrance. The existing car park will be expanded, with the installation of helipad safety barriers, EV charging points, bicycle parking and new signage.

Prefabricated accommodation will likely be needed to facilitate such works.

Deputy Alan Dillon said was ‘delighted’ to see plans for the new emergency department progressing.

The Fine Gael TD said he would continue to advocate for a the construction of a new ward for MUH. The need for a new 75-bed block at the Castlebar hospital was also highlighted in a recent HIQA report.

However, Cllr Kilcoyne insists that a new accommodation block should be built in tandem with any new emergency department facilities.

“There must be a general election within 14 months from the first of January… the new A&E won’t be in place at that stage. We’ll be lucky if the foundation stones are laid,” he said.

“The building of an accommodation block will take two or three years more. Why can’t the two be done together? That’s my simple question. One is as important as the other.”

Earlier this month, Mayo Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh submitted parliamentary questions pertaining to staffing vacancies at MUH and the number of people presenting at the hospital’s emergency department who left prior to being seen.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly told Deputy Conway-Walsh that the HSE were not in a position to answer questions relating to operational matters due to ongoing industrial action.

Minister Donnelly said he has asked the HSE to respond directly regarding the number of people presenting at the emergency department who left prior to being seen.

A spokesperson for Deputy Conway Walsh told The Mayo News that she had yet to receive a reply as of Friday, December 22.

‘I’m sorry’

Separately, the HSE has urged the public to consider availing of other treatment options before attending the emergency department ahead of an expected surge in hospitalisations over Christmas.

Tony Canavan, CEO of Saolta hospital group, asked people to consider using out-of-hours GP services and Roscommon Injury Unit – which will be open from 8am to 8pm every day, including Christmas Day.

“I’m sorry that anyone has to wait a long time in our hospitals and know that this is extremely difficult for patients and their families,” said Mr Canavan.

“We are working hard to move patients through our emergency departments as quickly as possible, and we remain committed to ensuring that patient care and comfort is a priority, even when some waiting is unavoidable.”