HSE admit to summer time capacity issues in Mayo University Hospital
Castlebar councillor Michael Kilcoyne was informed that 31 patients spent over 24 hours in the Emergency Department before getting a bed
Health officials in the HSE have admitted that there is a capacity issue within Mayo University Hospital after it was revealed that during the summer 31 patients spent 24 hours in the Emergency Department before getting a bed.
Figures released by the HSE on the number of persons who attended the Emergency Department of Mayo University Hospital (MUH) were provided to Mayo councillor Michael Kilcoyne at the meeting of the HSE Regional Health Forum West.
A total of 12,233 patients attended the Emergency Department of the Castlebar hospital in June, July and August of this year with 31 patients waiting over 24 hours before getting a bed. The busiest month was July with 4,262 attending the Emergency Department and 13 waiting over 24 hours without a bed.
Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne who is a member of the forum told the meeting that it was not acceptable that people had to go 24 hours before getting a bed.
“People were waiting more than 24 hours and that's a long time. I know it's only 31, but even if there was only one, to quote somebody else, you're supposed to leave all in the desert and go after the ones that are lost. The fact is there were 31 over the month left on trolleys, which is really not acceptable,” he said.
Mary Warde, the HSE Integrated Health Area Manager for Mayo agreed that one person having to wait so long on a trolley was 'one too many' but added that elderly patients are prioritised when it comes to getting a bed.
“We absolutely accept that. Every effort is made to prioritise over 75s on trolleys over 24 hours, and there has been no patients over 75 on trolleys over that period of time. So we are endeavoring to try and reduce that number. However, as you can see with the increased attendances across June, July, and August, we do have capacity issues within the university hospital. But we're making every effort to try and accommodate those that are on travels to beds as quickly as possible,” she said.
The meeting was also told that 53 agency staff were employed in Mayo University Hospital during August in order to cover for the number of staff taking leave during that period. The figure for July was 51 while a total of 47 agency staff were employed in the hospital in June.
The majority of the cover was for medical and dental staff followed by general support, nursing and management and administrative staff.