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[My husband] has a condition and it’s got much worse, so we rang yesterday, were told to go to A&E, so we came this morning. It’s packed, there are people everywhere, it’s just unreal, there’s no room to walk around. It’s just so bad. It’s not the staff – the staff are great.
I think the problem is, there’s a flu epidemic, doctors won’t take responsibility and are sending people to A&E, and it’s putting pressure on the system. Same thing happened last year – it’s not any worse this year, it’s just not improved.
In the Emergency Department there’s trolleys everywhere – all along the walls and corridors. I’ve overheard staff saying a number of times amongst each other, ‘We’ve over 100 patients – how are we going to get through them?’ There’s people waiting over 15 hours. It’s just jam-packed.
These are the views of some people at St Vincent’s Hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) as given to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland yesterday.
The government are searching for solutions to the hospital crisis, which is under pressure at the best of times, but is buckling because of a surge in winter-related illnesses.
The latest figures from the trolley watch report show that today, there are 578 people on trolleys and wards across hospitals nationwide – a significant drop from yesterday’s figure of 602 (both these figures exclude St Vincent’s Hospital’s ward figures).
Yesterday, Health Minister Simon Harris described the situation in Irish hospitals this week as “a perfect storm”, while also saying that the current crisis couldn’t have been predicted – a remark which has drawn criticism from political rivals and those working in the healthcare system.
Fianna Fáil spokesperson on health Billy Kelleher said that a review of beds needed in Irish hospitals had to be an independent review – because the ‘HSE couldn’t be trusted to review the system accurately’.
This morning Damien McCallion, HSE Director for Emergency Management told Morning Ireland that they have been working with the hospitals and ambulances to improve conditions.
He said there has been a fall in the number of people on trolleys in Limerick hospital because of coordination with the HSE, but also admitted that they weren’t meeting targets for patient admissions.
The winter initiative had a number of levels including additional capacity at hospitals, and community intervention teams or ‘hospitals at home’.
McCallion said that the plan wasn’t effective, but that the situation would be a lot worse if they hadn’t prepared before Christmas.
He added that other measures are clearly needed, and that there are plans to open new beds at Tullamore, an A&E unit in Limerick and a support unit at Portlaoise, but that they were long-term solutions.
Ambulances stuck for hours
“Two days ago in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, six ambulances were available,” Siptu representative Paul Bell this morning. ”Five of those ambulances were stationary on hospital grounds, and that’s just one example.”
Patients who are brought to hospitals are waiting between one and three hours before they’re transferred to hospitals across the country – this compares to a target transfer time of 20 minutes or less.
It’s important to note that the majority of patients travelling by ambulance don’t have the flu – they are suffering from a heart attack or a stroke and need urgent hospital care. But it’s those who travel to the A&E department with the flu that create the additional demand on the healthcare system.
Bell said that some patients were waiting up to six hours to be transferred and that this meant ambulances were stuck on hospital grounds and unable to respond to calls.
We’re seeing a huge amount of ambulance vehicles being held on hospital grounds, not being available for calls, not being available to respond within the recommended times.
He also said that this is causing the public concern, as they think there aren’t enough ambulances, when in fact the ambulances are “getting caught in the accident and emergency department”.
“Once there’s no space, that’s the position you’re put in.”
The hospitals with the least space and the most chronic issues are Limerick, Letterkenny, Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda, Cork University Hospital Waterford, and the Mercy, according to Bell.
Each winter period, there is a surge in demand for A&E services and hospitals in general because of the winter flu and vomiting bug, and the great risk that poses for older people in particular.
This year has seen a record high number of over 600 people on trolleys or waiting for beds in hospitals for two days in a row – which follows a growing trend in hospital demand.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Six One News last night, A&E consultant at Tallaght Hospital Dr James Gray outlined problems around isolation requirements for some patients and said what was happening is “far from first world medicine”.
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Fianna Fáil calling for an independent review. This disaster has been going on under Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s watch. Ye have been elected to sort out these sort of problems. Start doing your fecking jobs and get the fecking thing sorted and stop talking about it.
“The government are searching for solutions to the hospital crisis”
No. The governments (of FF, FG and Labour) have deliberately created the crisis in the public health service which they have been systematically eroding over decades to force people in the hands of private capital for their medical needs.
The hospital crisis is de facto government policy as is the homeless epidemic. Profit is king while people are disposable labour ad consumer units to be exploited for maximum gain. Keep the recovery going for the billionaire class. While people dying on hospital trolleys can fend for themselves in our little neoliberal “republic”.
@Shaun Gallagher: Standard tactic is to announce another review which will delay the need for decision making and by then, people will have forgotten about it until the next crisis. How many times have the DOH announced and reannounced their planservices for an acute hospital bed capacity review?
Does the Government even care ?
When will they realise there is no quick fix. I have to say it’s not just the politicians that are to blame but that is where the book stops.
The government has done absolutely nothing to help the situation. It’s laughable that the minister for health is now blaming the hospitals.
It’s called Keeping the Recovery Going Fine Gael style.
@Paul Mc: Don’t worry, the plebs will keep voting them back in and expecting different results.
When a government is elected all the Government TD’s and their families should have to give up their private health insurance.. If Enda Kenny’s wife was on a hospital trolley for 13 hours this whole fiasco would be sorted out overnight..
If this was a water crisis there would be mayhem on every Street in Dublin and elsewhere yet people are very sick but these people in Government are using delaying tactics and talking. Get off your as and fix it
Perfectly true Benjy. Harney removed accountability at top and bottom and UHI was supposed to hand over control to private sector. Now HSE and DOH still in charge, still running down public sector to privatise and still no local input. Need NHS in Ireland. NHS in UK suffering same attacks but has greater capacity and includes GPs. Nationalising Health is best solution. More staff more beds more accountability with local democratic control.
Let’s review the review of the latest review.
No – they don’t. This is not an accident. Just like the homeless ‘crisis’ it is a result of their economic policy. Profit is king. People are just meaningless numbers on a spreadsheet. They are very happy with their performance. Sure we just celebrated the highest corporate tax return ever!!! Keep the recovery going, it’s just a picnic for all of us. Great craic altogether.
Of course they do, but just not about hospitals, homeless or people who aren’t likely to vote for them or financially support their campaign to stay in power long enough to land a cushy job in Europe. They care about multinationals, international gamblers and vulture funds. This is evident from their behaviour. What has happened to those who caused the disaster? What has happened for those who didn’t? Who has lost most and who has gained most? This is how you know who exactly the government cares about.
Don’t forget only a few days ago , our taoiseach enda Kenny said vulture funds have needs. The needs included charitable status as we have all seen. Yet the health service is on its knees , buckling and what’s the response
. It’s winter, it’s flu season, yet
Yesterday, Health Minister Simon Harris described the situation in Irish hospitals this week as “a perfect storm”, while also saying that the current crisis couldn’t have been predicted
Says it all
@LITTLEONE: In fairness Harris is right about not being able to predict it. How could he have possibly predicted something he actually doesn’t care that much about? As long as this only affects the little people with very little money, it’s all good, no harm done. Just run the health service into the ground and then everyone can pay for it, whether they can afford to or not.
This is Fine Gael, this is what they do, they is what they have always done and people voted for them 6 years ago simply because they weren’t Fianna Fail, who they are now in government with. Fear not though, Fianna Fail will be back in power soon enough, simply because they are not Fine Gael. who they’ll probably be in government with anyway.
Nothing to do with the current problem but don’t miss an opportunity to have a go.
Ger?????
If u pay the nurses proper money, they will work in ireland… They need to invest over 1billion in the Irish health care system… and get rid of half the middle “men” in the hse. So many people employed with jobs for the boys…..
@Les Don’t forget they sell hospitals at discounted rates to billionaires.
http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/ireland up and up we go!!!!! ff fg labour sold you out.
Simon Harris on rte radio one news was down in tullamore hospital.. ,67 people on trollies , doctors in tullamore say only 10 patients are flu related. Flu is not the problem .. this was put to Simon Harris , his response. Flu is the problem.. the man hasn’t a clue when it’s obvious he is ignoring what doctors are telling him.
@Paul Mc: “Don’t forget they sell hospitals at discounted rates to billionaires.”
I have no idea who you could possibly be talking about Paul?
@Ger Ryan: it seems there’s no problem in your little world then, you lucky blueshirt
@Seth thats called ‘pass the buck’. Where the minister will start a merry go round of accountability and responsibility that will continue until its jusy forgotten about or theres a proposed ESB strike or something akin to that
Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way over and over again and expecting a different result. That’s what we’re doing with our Health Service. We keep trying different Health Ministers who all say a variation of the same thing, “judge me on what I do”, in other words give me a few years to get a pension out of this. The opposition snipe and moan and ignore the fact that they did the exact same things when they were in power, and, given time, the roles will reverse and it will be played out again. No either we have some extremely stupid people running the show, which isn’t impossible, or the entire thing is a sham, an act, played out for the benefit of the electorate, us. They don’t want a top class Health Service, they don’t want a Health System so good that people don’t need to have private health insurance – and inversely, as the Public Health System gets worse those taking out Private Health insurance are increasing.
@LITTLEONE: Yes a perfect storm that has been going on for 10 years now.
The current Health System in this country is designed to fail, we’ve seen so called ‘Centres of Excellence’ where everything around them is closed and cutback to such an extent that they can’t possibly cope. There have been new A&E departments opened with great fanfare, like the one in Drogheda hospital, where everything around it was immeatiately closed or had their services reduced putting an enormous strain on an already overstretched hospital. And that new A&E unit? It had 20 cubicles and is already redundant after 4 years, even with two patients to a cubicle it can’t cope, often having in excess of 100 patients. Any fool can see this is going to get worse and it should be planned for, departments should be designed in such a way that they can open extra areas to increase their capacity in times of crisis. If there is nowhere to go, nowhere to put the additional patients in times of crisis the only solution is something like portacabins. It’s pointless listening to the same advice from the same people for decades who clearly haven’t a clue what they’re doing. Time to change.
My father was in a&e from 8 am on a Saturday morning till 1am on the Sunday morning when he was moved to a ward. We were told at lunch time on the Saturday that he be moved to a ward and the bed was ready. Administration took 12 hours. That’s 12 hours holding up a trolley in a&e
Having been in a hospital since 26/12 to 3/1
Some of the problems seem to be the lack of doctors/teams on duty. So patients that are ready for discharge are still in beds that are so badly needed for patients in a&e and while waiting for discharge they are susceptible to all kinds of bugs etc …… round and round it goes.
God bless and help the nurses.
@Geraldine Duncan Cullen: I agree, my mother was OK to go home at 2am in A&E had to wait until 10am for a doctor to get discharged. Now of course she could have just gone home by signing herself out – but who the hell would do that!!!
@Austin Rock: in most of the public services there’s a ‘go-slow’ in permanent operation, the people discuss this every day on the streets but nobody who’s elected will dare say it or dare to do anything about it
Was away visiting family abroad over the break. Child had a temp of 40.3 and was very poorly originally thought it was a cold. Brought him to outpatients Doc on call at the A&E in the children’s hospital in and out in 2 hours. Medicated, examined and diagnosis. When we left they’d phoned our prescription ahead to the nearest all night pharmacy to collect on our way home. Total for hospital visit and prescription €92, compare that to €100 A&E visit and hours waiting in Ireland, we might as well call in The Red Cross to deal with our hospitals.
@Ana Nonymous: Yes – the Red Cross or UNICEF or Cuba must be contacted,.
The answer is clearly to bring incredibly embarrassing negative press to this country.
It is the only thing our disgustingly monstrous government understands, as it continues their evil charade of pretending Ireland is a first world civilised country.
Of course you won’t mention that pediatric A&E is separated from general hospital and that if you bring a child to A&E you will be seen asap.
@Ger Ryan: Will you Ger?
If the health service is not able to cope with an expected seasonal flu outbreak then it is not fit for purpose.
@Mr Phil Officer: The government needs to increase staff in nurses and doctors long-term. No administrators should be in the hospitals. There may be a flu outbreak but most people should be sent home to rest. They need alot of bed-rest and looked after by family members if possible. For others, if it way more serious, they need to be in hospital. The population is increasing.
When will the people of Ireland realise that talking is over and now it’s time to demonstrate against this goverment. We as a people are being treated as fools.
That’s because so many acted as fools by re electing Kenny and his band of merry men ( and women!)
@Kimurphy: He wasn’t re-elected, he was rejected. But the Dail appointed him, concocted a sham minority government and pretend opposition. Anything to keep the establishment in power.
See you marching the 21st then Sam?
Sadly, it will probably take an avoidable tragedy before anything changes….. even that might not be enough. Recipe for disaster….
@Lynne Anthony: There’s already been several adverse incidents. In one case the coroner described the conditions in AMNCH as a ‘dangerous place’. HIQA went in and carried out an investigation report. Lawyers tried to silence the consultant in terms of the evidence that he had planned to give to the court. Plans were put in place that no patient should be on trolley on a hospital corridor, but they were site specific. Despite having identified what all the issues are, and what actions are needed to fix the system, there is an ongoing failure to mitigate the risk.
We need to fire Simon Harris, he’s a journalist and hasn’t a clue how to run the HSE.
We need to put a senior consultant actually working in the system and not “doctors”
Like Leo “which is my best profile” Varadcar or the previous furry faced joker before him.
That will not happen though while we have a school teacher and various solicitors
who pretend to be politicians. What a joke of a government.
And then we’ll have another review.
Solicitors and barristers are exactly the people who should be drafting laws. People who have skin in the game should be kept far away from government departments. Tony Kelly is right. We have an old fashion health service. It needs a health tsar to bring all aspects together and commit to a 10 year health policy. If we keep swinging from Co location to universal health to universal health insurance then we will go nowhere. Talk health out of government election manifestos and leave it the department .
Government looking for quick fix lol, they are trying to fix it for over 4 years since they came into power, idiots, get rid of the government, that is the first road to fixing the problem, and many other problems,
And get rid of Tony O Brien and his fat salary.
That was 2007 Mick. Remember the big billboards and posters, the ones with smug mug shot of a conman?
“I’ll end the scandal of patients on trollies”
Almost a decade on the situation has slowly got worse since.
Jesus tweed was it that far back, remember the posters alright, even worse so, the problem is we just don’t have the right people in power, they don’t have the ability, capability, will, to fix anything, all they do is talk talk talk, and when the government actually do something they make it worse and it costs the tax payer millions and in some cases billions, it amazes me that people can’t see that, and when I say people u mean the people who keep voting for FF and FG, we need change and rapid,
They are trying so many different ways of getting a quart into a pint bottle and are doomed to fail. We simply haven’t enough hospital beds nor the necessary staff. Recruitment difficult because these ‘human resources’ were not treated as people but rather as public sector nuisances who are over paid and destroying our economic recovery. Some market economics may be necessary to solve the recruitment problem. When resources are scarce the price goes up. Easy to see why staff feel under valued and under paid and are voting for strike .
@Gearoid O Ciarain: you can blame teacher strikes for that view/attitude. Alot of the public sector striking etc damages the reputation of other sectors like this where there are less workers for more jobs etc.
Utter nonsense Darren Norris, people have a right to strike for a fair deal, and the front line staff of our hospitals are incredible. In my experience they work heroically to serve their patients, and if they go on strike it’s because they deserve double what they’re asking and more. I love how when it comes to CEO salaries people on here comment how you have to pay for quality. Well surely that applies to health care.
One of the most expensive services in the world delivers one of the shittiest services in the world
@Tony Hardwicke: I live and work in Bulgaria, probably the poorest country in the EU. The health service here, though far from perfect, is superior in everyway compared to what the Irish government makes available for its citizens.
The HSE it seems fails to properly resource Emergency Resources in some hospitals…then the government closes them because they are ‘unsafe’ rather than see to it that things are put right..this then means cases are redirected to other hospitals, miles away and the government is surprised that these ERs are overcrowded…give me a BREAK! This should bring down the government !
It won’t!- the people just keep re electing failures — too many have short memories. James Reilly said it would never ever happen again and here we are same government ( more or less) and same problem
When the health minister comes out with this , you know they don’t care and are doing nothing but it seems run down the system. It’s winter, it’s flu season, yet
Yesterday, Health Minister Simon Harris described the situation in Irish hospitals this week as “a perfect storm”, while also saying that the current crisis couldn’t have been predicted
Says it all
Can we request assistance from the United Nations emergency response team perhaps.
I mean we have a 3rd World health service so need international assistance maybe?
Our health service is creaking, under strain and badly managed all the way up to ministerial level. But it is nowhere near third world world levels. Get some perspective.
@Jimmyjoe Wallace:
I think you will find that it is.
Google hospitals Uganda or hospitals Kenya and check them out, to give but two examples. Then come back and tell me our hospitals are third world. They’re not. We have problems for sure, no denying that.
@Jimmyjoe Wallace: So we leave Europe and go to Africa to compare apples to oranges, just to get the government off the hook?
@Jimmyjoe Wallace:
Google hospitals Cuba
Ireland’s health service is a tragic, pathetic joke – it is a 3rd World service.
@Dave, where the fcuk did I say anything even remotely like that? Where did I say the government should be let off the hook? I said the opposite. But it’s far from being at thirld world levels, as claimed in earlier posts.
@Jimmyjoe Wallace:
Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU – far, far poorer than Ireland.
Its health service is better in every way than Ireland’s.
It is a fact that Ireland’d health service is comparable to Third World countries.
600 sick people abandoned by Simon Harris in hospital corridors when he knew the flu epidemic was coming is a national outrage.
What direct action consequences are to be take to embarrass our wicked government into action.
I’m not trying to defend our health services clearly they are in crises thanks to the policies of several governments,but I can guarantee you they are far superior to the vast majority of third world countries. As for Bulgaria, I’m not an expert on their health services but I do know infant mortality rates are way higher there than here and life expectancy is lower there. Are these indicators of a superior health service? To taste Ireland health services are third world is way over the top and an insult to the hundreds of doctors and nurses who work in it. Doctors and nurses,who, by the way, would probably have to moonlight as tour guides and taxi drivers in order to make ends meet if they worked in Cuba.
@Jimmyjoe Wallace: The infant mortality rate and life expectancy applies to the very large gypsy population here.
Their lifestyle, housing, and lack of opportunity and education is the primary cause of the rates you use.
I’ve seen the Bulgarian health service in operation. Far far superior to the public service in Ireland.
Like I say Dave, I’m no expert on Bulgarian health services, but I think when someone overstates the case about ours by saying it’s third world, they’ve lost the argument already.
My son waiting 5 hours to be taken from st Luke’s Kilkenny to Waterford for a scope after asking if we could take him in a car to be told no. Eventually got to Waterford had scope straight away and was told to wait for a return ambulance asked if we could take him back to Kilkenny ourselves we were told yes. On our way out we saw approximately 8-10 ambulances parked up.
“Lets keep the recovery going ‘! If you voted them back in you’ve no one to blame only yourself, It’ll never change!
To keep private insurance high and suitable for those with money , even our political elite , this situation need to be maintained. They have no interest in fixing what is suitable for them.. Your vote can only change this..
@Willy Malone:
No – voting is a waste of time.
Direct action is necessary.
Similar to Apollo House.
We need to get the nurses and doctors unions on board for this direct action.
These people do not deserve to have to deal with this evil government policy of destroying our public healthcare system.
@mursim: Such utter nonsense spouted on here. So you AAA morons march into A&E and “take over” a ward, and then what ? Threaten any nurses who get in your way ? Idiots.
Agree with what you said Mursim, except the voting point. The biggest influence outside of protest we have is how we spend our money and how we vote. This is why people need to wake up out of the dreamworld we appear to be in and see that if we want to make Ireland a place we would be happy to live in and for our children to live in, we need to take action. Vote in people who follow through on their promises, who don’t need spin doctors and just tell the truth, who are prepared to make unpopular laws if they benefit the majority and demand their resignation if they don’t. Who in government now could meet those criteria? But those who voted and those who didn’t vote put them there, in the first instance through stupidly voting for them and in the second by not voting against them.
We need to ask Cuba for humanitarian assistance maybe.
Despite the brutal sanctions for decades against that country they have the world’s best healthcare system.
Whatever happens we cannot rely on our useless government or monstrous EU.
The world best healthcare system maybe, but doctors are paid so little have to moonlight as tour guides and taxi drivers to make ends meet.
@Jimmyjoe Wallace:
So what.
They have the best healthcare system in the world.
They are a developing nation.
Ireland is a backward joke of a country when it comes to our health service.
So what? !!! OK then, let’s cut all HSE salaries in half and employ double the amount of people, would you be happy with that? They’d be paid scrappy money, but so what,right?
@Jimmyjoe Wallace: what’s wrong with being a taxi driver ?.There medical system is better than ours maybe we should follow their example.
@Joe I didn’t say there was anything wrong with being a taxi driver.
If the Journal didn’t have a comments section would you even bother reading the news from this site?
Is this not a case of running down the barely function public Health System.
Call for help from the private sector, what could possible go wrong!!!!……
Bin collections, now private….trying to do it with Water, works just fine eh!
We have the beds and the equipment. What about the closed, well equipped wards and the moratorium on recruiting nurses that leads us down the expensive pathway to agency recruitment. It seems to me that the budget is tied up in the top heavy administration layer. Why cannot some culling be done in the admin area and funds redirected to open up closed wards and lift the recruitment ban.We were looking at the Dutch model where did that go? Nobody is prepared to take admin on, these people need to be independently evaluated and accountable for their actions and roles. Peer evaluation does not help this and an outside body needs to oversee this. It would be great to have the same amount of accountability and oversight as exists in private hospitals but I wonder is this because of the absence of unions?
Jerome Lordan, I think you’re spot on when it comes to administer and management. The HSE strikes me as top heavy with management and administration while front line health care staff are run ragged. I have no doubt that an expert could rectify the mess we’re in but the Government wouldn’t be willing to do what’s necessary if they did.
Our politicians should pay for this mess with their careers. Unfortunately, if they do, they’ll walk away with their gold plated pensions and exorbitant compensation packages, just like they’re being rewarded for something! They probably shouldn’t have taken their political jobs in the first place if they can’t do the jobs, but it’s all about the power and money for these clueless muppets.
@Adrian: Except Alan Kelly. He’s sound with a steadfast moral compass.
Hahaha!
Broken compass….
Review,review,review-such s€&€e
Fianna Fáil closed the Louth Hospital in Dundalk.Its not a wonder that the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda can’t cope.Cavan Regional is now also being forced to send A and E patients to Drogheda.The last Govt did nothing for health nor has the current.The closure of the Louth hospital in Dundalk was a disgrace as we are the second biggest town in Ifeland.People are dying as a result of that decision
@Live at Oriel: A&E closed in Nenagh, Ennis and St John’s in Limerick and all patients routed to Limerick Mid Western yet they wonder why we had 16 ambulance outside the doors of A&E yesterday waiting to offload patients.
Only got yourselves to blame ( those that voted for these incumbents). You keep voting these idiots in (or don’t bother voting at all). When will you realise that they couldn’t give a toss about anything other than taxes, lining pockets and the betterment of their career’s. How many have to die because of their incompetence. This time last year there were 600 on trollies. This time the yer before it was the same…… “Perfect Storm” my backside. It reads like an episode of Fawlty Towers.
It’s absolute madness.
I worked in Donnybrook hospital recently which is 3 miles from Dublin City , surrounded by about 5 acres of green land with really good very usable buildings lying empty for years, wards taken out of use even though they are fully equipped, heated etc and being used as stores for kitchen supplies.
Surely We have the capacity in our hospitals to deal with the issues.
What is going on?
@Stephen Maher: It will open when they see no other option but to privatise the health service.
We need to take a leaf out of the Apollo House activists book and take matters into our own hands. If there are unused beds in closed off areas or buildings just open them and use them and let people have some rest and dignity. Obviously consider the health and safety risks of leaving someone on a trolley or putting them in a bed in one of these areas. We need to reject rules that don’t work! No point waiting for the Government to see sense!
@Noirin Kavanagh: Law breaking. The go-to solution of the illeducated lower class. And you got your medical degree/doctorate from …… ???
@CeannairBlue: Where did Harris get his? He’s supposed to be the Minister for Health.
@CeannairBlue:
The fact that it is breaking laws is utterly irrelevant.
When sick people are being left to rot in filthy corridors because it is government policy, then direct action becomes a necessity.
I personally think if the INMO and doctor’s associations called for emergency relief from the Red Cross and the government of Cuba it might work to embarrass our evil government into action.
CeannairBlue, arrogance, ad hominims and snobbery, the go – to of the deluded, over privileged wannabe upper class. My degree nor my post grad dip is none of your business, the failure of our government to do even the most fundamental job of serving the people who foolishly elected them would be obvious to a child in primary school….. oh, but wait, not to you….. so your area of expertise is where exactly? Aside from posting stupid remarks on here, I mean
@CeannairBlue: Bad laws are made to be broken ceannairblueshirt especially when they are made by so called higher class, by the way tell your friend Harris the perfect storm has,nt arrived yet but its on the way.
@Noirin Kavanagh: There was at least ten empty beds in a spare room behind A&E last week in Limerick while my father waited on a trolley. You really do not want to get sick
@CeannairBlue:
CeannairBlue=FG Frape Room
Trump would do a better job at sorting this mess out.
Well he’s about to tear down his own country’s health system despite neither him or the GOP having no plans to put a replacement in for at least three years, possibly four.
At least he’s doing something. Obamacare is just the legacy that the current administration want to leave behind
I wonder where the Fred Johnstons, the Brinsters and the rest of the shills are telling us it’s the fault of people getting sick that’s the cause of the problem.
@Dave Doyle: Did you not know its ceannair blues shift.
Before a tragedy happens why doesnt simon harris work with the private sector ( like today not next month) and get some of their a and e’s and beds as a short term fix?-
@Kimurphy: He needs to compel them to help – no working with.
@Kimurphy: That’s the plan, and it’s working out just fine for them. Another step on the road to privatisation of the health service.
The only good thing here is that they never seem to run out of trolleys, although at the rate we’re going they could run out of them soon enough.
Maybe the trollys are supplied by DOB too !
This is all down to government policy. Everything is to be privatised, its “personal responsibility” and the health of your bank balance that will see you able to avail of any public service.
Health service problems are the fault of people getting ill.
Social housing isn’t being, or hasn’t been built for decades. Yet the homeless problem is the fault of the homeless.
We have Coveney once again telling use we will all have a bigger allowance of “Free Water”. Totally ignoring the fact that we pay every single day for water.
The neo-liberal dogma of FG/FF that everything has to be commodified for private profit, but keep paying your taxes, has the country in the mess that it’s in.
In Limerick the day before yesterday there were 16 ambulances carrying sick patients queuing up to get into the hospital. There were no other ambulances available to answer calls during this. I was in A&E with my son last October and didn’t think the situation could get any worse than it was then. How wrong I was.
Our Hospitals A&E’s have become like war-zones with trollies all over the place, why can’t someone just stand up & explain to us “Why! …. Why is this happening in 2017. You’d have more chance now of getting an Ambulance in Syria than in Ireland it’s gone that bad!
This is getting beyond a joke. Can we please have a complete independent review of our health system from an external and independent body. The unions, staff and government need to adhere to the findings of this review as each of them is responsible. Increasing wages for staff is not the solution. The core problems still remain. The budget that the health system has is enormous. Surely there are better and more efficient ways of using it.
I somehow doubt that the government and unions would sign up for this independent external review for fear of what it might uncover. The public have a right to know how the money is being spent.
We need more A&E locations, more “step-down” beds and less administration staff. Problem solved in 12 words.
@Joe Murphy: Agreed 100% but I guarantee that when you suggest this, the unions rear their heads and threaten to strike.
@CeannairBlue: The problem cant be solved because of unions, is that what you’re telling us?
@Dave Doyle:
The clue is in his name – he is a blueshirt. Yes he is blaming the union for the fact that our government is running the health service into the ground.
@mursim: She and name is f**k all to do with politicians. Kneejerk idiots.
My mother was a patient in Limerick university hospital in March 2014. She was on a trolley in A&E from Fri morn till Sun eve. She died 10days later. She was very ill, so we expected her to pass but I’m sure her time on the trolley didn’t help. I spent the whole of the Sat with her in A&E and I could not believe the chaos! The noise was horrendous, with people talking and phones ringing and the poor staff trying their best to do their job in an extremely difficult environment. One thing did strike me though. There were 3/4 relatives surrounding each patient on a trolley, hence the cacophony of noise. If this was restricted to one relative per patient, it would certainly help things.
Someone would want to tell. Door is Paul bell to wake up and get real talk to paramedics . we don’t have enough staff and he knows it . this is due to retirements and people leaving service . we need more staff and ambulances on roads as call demand has increased and bomber of ambulances hasn’t since 1973
Community care. Hospital at home lol. If they won’t pay for nurses in hospitals, why would they pay them to work in the”community”?
Also, where are all these nurses? Sitting at home waiting fir the call? No they’re in USA Canada Australia
Not good enough. No more excuses this government must fall.
“there are 578 people on trolleys across hospitals nationwide – a significant drop from yesterday’s figure of 602.”
A drop of 24 is “significant”? What would a drop of 602 be? One could call it expected with all of the money that has been thrown into the medical system over the years.
@George Vladisavljevic:
Come to think of it, a drop of 24 from 602 would be quite insignificant if one really thought about it.
Think of when you were in school and if you came back home with 24 answers correctly answered from 602 questions asked. Would your parents have been happy with you?
In all the debate and discussion and blame game assertions I notice that Tony O’brien the ceo of the HSE remains unscathed. In 2012 Tony O’brien assured the public that he would address overcrowding bed capacity waiting lists etc. Four years later it’s worse. Four years later and after an excess payment on top of his salary of 160k .yeah 160 k ..we are no better off . So yes ..call out the politicians but remember this the head of the hse on a substantial salary has not delivered but remains unscathed. He obviously can’t fill the role ..16Ok excess salary ( and now Alan Kelly is pontificating on the radio )
All they will do when a TD (that hasn’t got a clue how to run a business, and is just a x school teacher) visit’s the hospital they will just push the people on trolleys into side rooms to make it look clear, they should be made stay in the hospital A&E’s form 8 in the evening till 8 in the morning for 7 days and see what is going on, I know in one hospital in the day time there are 10 doctors on duty and at 8 pm that goes down to two doctors!
@Linda Hughes:
The TDs are well aware of the crisis.
However as it is unspoken government policy to drive our health system into the ground to allow it to be privatised then then only option to deal with this is through direct action.
An appeal to the International Red Cross would be an appropriate start.
GP are contributing to this problem. They’re working very short hours now days.
@Bean Ui Mise: I agree 100%. I saw on boards.ie that a practice in Swords was closed from 23rd December until today. What are people to do? GP’s seem to fob everything off on A&E now – it’s no wonder the hospitals are chaotic.
My god why is it so bloody difficult to use common sense. A consultant in Beaumont said it was because the government have taken 2000 beds out of the system. Thats why here is a crisis. Fianna Gael wants to defund the system and force a crisis so that private hospitals will be used. They want privitisation full stop. The government of Ireland is the enemy of the Irish people who will continue to die on trolleys and on the streets until we stand up and demand the removal of parasites who do nothing but undermine the dignity of our own people.
Harris like all previous ministers is hoping people get bored in AE depts and go home coz they were not really sick.
What he would really like is fir everyone to have health insurance and the poor to die. Like in america
@Kevin Slater: If they’re not really sick they should be nowhere near A&E.
Another meeting to find another solution AKA another can to kick further down the road. A New Year but same s*h*i*t*e as usual !!
The highs of Christmas didn’t last long. Back to reality with a bang.
people should be admitted to an A&E only on the say so of a GP unless in an emergency which then should be assessed and if not serious be sent to thier GPS only those who need to be in hospital should be .
All they will do when a TD (that hasn’t got a clue how to run a business, mo
It’s a joke. The hospitals have been on the brink of collapse for the last 20 years. Imagine it there was a terrorist attack or natural disaster. The whole system couldn’t cope.
@Kevin Dillon: But it can’t even cope with a normal flu not to mind epidemic.
What the government should do is immediately organise a complete review of the HSE, then, when that is done, set up a special Oireachtas committee to look carefully into every aspect of the health service.
Once that is completed and they have written their report, a specialist collection of cross party TD’s, and independents, should study the report and report back to the Dáil with their recommendations.
Hopefully, given a free vote on the recommendations, everything would then be forgotten about as a new crisis reared its’ ugly head!
@Gus Sheridan:Management the one disease that consultants did not think existed within a health care system.Consultants do not take a uniform approch to management but a rather isolated approch in not creating value for patients and its employers.
Management and adminstrative costs over 1 billion out of a HSE budget of 15 billion.The thought process is outdated to total healthcare in Ireland. We Irish are being coned by our political leaders.
Harris is a kid in a man’s job.
It’s not rocket science.
You can’t get a six inch turd down a four inch pipe.
You can’t treat 100 patients if you have a capacity for 50.
Didn’t these HSE people do maths in school?
Solution? Money €€€. I realise that’s a simplified answer but a public health system is or isn’t a priority. Apparently elected officials do not appreciate that the public demands it be a priority.
Our health service is a joke Enda and his cronies wouldn’t run a cattle mart and for Fianna Fall down backing this crap they should be ashamed of themselves and lads and ladies ye have something in common full of false promises…
Couldn’t be predicted? Influenza season (and other seasonal illnesses) happen at the same time every year, give or take a week or two. And every year hospital leadership is shocked at the upsurge in volume. Those in the trenches know it is going to happen. No proactive planning year after year.
Has Billy Kelleher Alzheimer’s or what. The leader of his party was minister fr health. Point scoring won’t fix the crisis Billy . Wake up.
‘ Trolleys ‘!!! Where are they getting all the ‘ Trolleys ‘ from,!!!
You neglected to mention South TIPP General Hospital Clonmel, daily has 25 patients waiting for beds,many times more than that a few weeks ago it had 42 on trollies everywhere, most unhygienic, how can corridors be cleaned properly. So undignified for patients, unfortunately once on the corridor you do not get much help from the staff as they are run off their feet seeing to the next admissions. Wonderful staff. HSE management is crap
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