Updated 8.58pm
AN ELDERLY MAN spent more than 80 hours on a trolley at University Hospital Galway waiting for a bed, only receiving one late this evening.
The 79 year old, who suffers from several underlying health issues, was rushed to A&E on Friday morning complaining of chest pains.
He was admitted to the emergency department at 10.15am, where his family say the conditions were “not even third world, they were Dickensian”.
“There were trolleys lined up both sides of the corridor line on a CIE train,” his daughter Shelia told TheJournal.ie.
My father had no pillow and had to rely on his own medication he brought with him. There was rubbish from an adjoining cubicle falling into his. He was also placed beside screaming children was unable to sleep for two days.
“Your condition isn’t going to improve if you haven’t had any sleep.”
Shelia said on Sunday morning, by which point her father had been on a trolley for almost 48 hours, he was moved to a Medical Assessment Unit (MAU).
While this was cleaner and less crowded than A&E, Shelia described it as a “posh holding pen”, and said there were still no beds available.
He was given a kind of air mattress, which they said would prevent bed sores, but lets call a spade a spade here – he was still on a trolley.
However, the elderly man was given a bed late this evening after spending a total of 82 hours on a trolley in the emergency department and MAU.
Sheila said she was working with a new Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) service at the hospital, but said it was “of no use, despite their efforts.”
She added that the nurses in the hospital were doing the best they could, but were suffering from a lack of resources and a system “rotten to the core”.
RTÉ News reports that a 101-year-old has spent more than 24 hours at an emergency department at University Hospital Limerick.
Another 101 year old went through a similar experience at Tallaght Hospital last week.
A statement from the hospital said:
The Emergency Department at Galway University Hospital has very busy again today and over the weekend due to the high volume and high acuity of patients presenting.The family of the patient who contacted TheJournal.ie were informed at 6.30pm today (Monday June 8th) that their relative has been allocated a bed.The hospital apologies to this patient and to all patients and their families for any distress caused as a result of the delays.
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