HIQA report raises concerns about MUH waiting times and vacancies

A NEW report has found that Mayo University Hospital (MUH) has missed HSE targets to see patients in the emergency department.

The report from the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA), which was compiled following an unannounced inspection, found MUH has to be fully or substantially compliant with eight out of 13 national standards.

It also noted that the Castlebar hospital had vacancy rates about 10 percent in the areas of healthcare assistants, nursing and health and social care roles.

The report surveyed the Emergency Department, Orthopaedic Ward and St John’s Ward at the Sacred Heart Hospital on June 21 and 22 and conducted interviews with service users, hospital staff and management.

Several improvements were noted since HIQA’s last inspection, including reconfiguration of the quality and safety department, recruitment of quality and patient safety personnel, and the introduction of a patient advisory liaison service.

It found that waiting times to be seen in the emergency department had improved but remained outside HSE targets.

On the day of inspection, “the department continued to operate at levels beyond its intended physical capacity, with ineffective patient flow impacting on Patient Experience Times.”

Of 31 patients registered at 11am on the first day of inspection, the average time from initial medical assessment to decision to admit was five hours and 28 minutes on average.

“This interval was longer than that measured during the 2022 inspection,” the report noted. “Overall however, these average times, although at a point in time, represent an improvement on the same waiting intervals as noted during the 2022 inspection.”

“HIQA was satisfied that the hospital had systems and processes in place to respond promptly, openly and effectively to complaints and concerns raised by people using the service and noted good practice in relation to in-house patient satisfaction surveys,” read the report’s summary.

“The hospital had increased ED capacity since the last inspection and inspectors found that patient privacy and dignity was supported for patients accommodated in individual cubicles and multi-occupancy rooms. However, for patients placed on trolleys along the corridor, the promotion of privacy and dignity was limited.”

Harry Barrett, Independent local election candidate, stated: “While there are many improvements mentioned in this report, I am still extremely concerned about the waiting times for patients going through the Emergency Department and the indignity they have to go through in terms of the lack of privacy.

“It’s very tough on elderly patients and I will keep highlighting this issue until the situation is resolved. A promise was made in 2011 to sort the trolley crisis and it has been broken every single year since. This is not acceptable.”

_{Independent local election candidate Harry Barrett has said he is 'extremely concerned' about emergency department waiting times in Mayo University Hospital} 

‘Disappointed’

CATHERINE Donohoe, Hospital Manager at Mayo University Hospital, said the hospital was ‘disappointed’ to have five areas identified as ‘partially compliant’.

“All of the areas identified as partial compliance had a working stream in place prior to the inspection but some of the action at the time of visit were not completed,” she said.

“I want to assure the people who use our hospital that my management team and myself as the hospital manager will continue to focus on getting the hospital to the highest standards possible for your care to be delivered safely and effectively,” she added.

MUH also increased its compliance with ambulance turnaround times. In 2023, 9.2 percent of ambulances at the hospital had a turnaround time of under 30 minutes – still far off the HSE’s minimum target of 80 percent.

Ms Donohoe said ambulance turnaround times will be enhanced again with the implementation of secondary triage room in early 2024.

The hospital has installed an ambulance arrival screen, a discharge lounge, and two new isolation rooms on one of the medical wards to improve the patient experience.

A new emergency department has received planning approval while plans for a 75-bed ward block with 50 new and 25 replacement beds are also progressing.

There are currently 323 beds in MUH, including 28 beds off-site in St John’s at the Sacred Heart Hospital.