Hospital Negligence Claims Likely to Rise Due to Bed Shortages

by | Sep 5, 2011

A huge increase in the number of patients left overnight on Emergency Department trolleys could escalate hospital negligence claims made against the Health Service Executive (HSE).

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s “trolley watch”, 6,624 patients were left overnight on trolleys in August due to a lack of beds, with 401 patients bed-less on August 31st alone. The figures indicate a 35 per cent rise on those from last year and are attributed, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation General Secretary, Liam Doran, on the rising rate of bed closures due to the pruning of funds by the government and HSE.

“A Serious Negative Impact upon Patient Care”

Selecting Limerick as an example of how the situation has got out of control, Mr Doran noted that despite assurances in 2009 from the HSE that any reconfiguration of services “would not require any additional beds”, 50 acute beds were closed at Ennis General and Nenagh Hospitals, followed by 25 further bed closures at St. John´s Hospital in Limerick and – in the middle of the August crisis – the HSE closed 25 acute beds at Limerick Regional Hospital. This has had, according to Mr Doran, “a serious negative impact upon patient care”.

“An Unsafe Situation”

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s claims that HSE cuts were resulting in “an unsafe situation” were echoed by Mr Fergal Hickey, President of the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine. Mr Hickey, quoting research conducted in Australia which was supported in the British Medical Journal, stated that Emergency Department overcrowding could be responsible for as many as 350 unnecessary deaths in Irish hospitals each year. He added that, for the first time ever, children admitted through the Emergency Department procedure were also facing delays in treatment due to the overcrowding situation.

“The Solution is Complex”

In response to the claims, Minister for Health James Reilly – who promised after his appointment in March that there would never again be 569 on trolleys in hospitals as there were earlier in the year -stated that “the solution is complex and will require an enhanced capacity by hospitals to deal with the inter-related issues involved”. Nonetheless, staff working in the country´s Emergency Departments are deeply concerned about the forthcoming months.

The Situation May Get Worse Before it Gets Better

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is concerned that the increase in bed shortages and subsequent high numbers of patients being left on hospital trolleys is occurring at the height of the summer – traditionally a “quiet” time of year – and has called on statutory bodies such as the Health Information and Quality Body (HIQA), An Bord Altranais and the Medical Council, to inspect all affected hospitals.

However, it is already known that HIQA has been unable to carry out independent hygiene inspections of hospitals throughout 2011 due to a lack of resources. This raises the fears for MRSA and other hospital infections being acquired by patients waiting in hospital corridors for a bed to become available. Furthermore, according to the HSE’s own performance system, five out of the six main Dublin hospitals are ranked as “unsatisfactory” in terms of the performance of their emergency departments.

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