HSE denies discharging patients prematurely

THE HSE has denied claims from a Mayo county councillor that patients are being discharged from hospital prematurely.

HSE officials say discharging of patients ‘remains a clinical decision and is taken on the basis of whether the patient is deemed fit or not fit for discharge’.

Cllr Kilcoyne said he had heard ‘some complaints from people that have been discharged that felt they weren’t fit to be discharged and that ended up in hospital a day or two later’.

Responding to Cllr Kilcoyne, Anne Cosgrave, Chief Operating Officer of the Saolta University Health Care Group, said that decisions to discharge were made solely by clinicians.

“It isn’t about discharging patients unless it’s safe to discharge them, it’s about ensuring that when they’re in hospital that they get all of their tests, their diagnostics, in a timely way so that their length of stay is appropriate,” Ms Cosgrave told the February meeting of HSE Regional Forum West.

“When somebody is in hospital, what we look at – and we are doing this in all of our hospitals – is actually ensuring that we have all of our processes surrounding the patient’s care as efficiently as we possibly can.”

Ms Cosgrave said the HSE wished to ensure that tests and other procedures were carried out in a ‘timely’ manner to ensure ‘their stay isn’t unnecessarily extended’.

All readmissions are reviewed as part of national policy, including readmission rates between seven days and 30 days.

This is done to ascertain if the patient’s latest admission was due to an early discharge following their original stay in hospital.

Cllr Kilcoyne said it was ‘crucial’ to ensure that appropriate home help were in place to ensure patients can be discharged.

“Somebody shouldn’t be in hospital because there is no facilities at home,” he said.

Ms Cosgrave said that Mayo was ‘very fortunate’ to have three district hospitals in Belmullet, Ballina and Swinford where patients could be discharged from Mayo University Hospital.

“There will always be occasions where home help might be a particular issue just in a particular location or at a particular team, but everyone makes every effort to try and ensure the supports are in place for patients,” she said.

The HSE is continuing to recruit Health Support Care Assistants (HCSAs) in Mayo despite budget cuts to health expenditure.

There are currently HSE-employed 219 HSCAs and 19 Tendered Home Support Providers providing services in Mayo.

John Fitzmaurice, Chief Officer, Community Healthcare West, said that there were in the region of 130 or 140 patients awaiting home help in the county.

This figure had previously been as high as 307 when it was requested by Cllr Kilcoyne last July.

The HSE Regional Forum West meeting heard that there was an ‘acute’ shortage of workers in the home care sector.