"Led by medical board chairman, Prof Colin Peirce, and deputy chair Dr Joe Devlin, they said: "we hope to no longer hear the HSE or the Department of Health blame staff in HSE Mid West for problems that have yet again been clearly identified as those of physical bed capacity. "Rather, it would be appropriate to acknowledge the inequitable access, the privacy and dignity deficiencies our patients experience"
"The doctors warned of the ongoing patient safety risks due to lack of beds and said the pace at which new beds are promised needs to be accelerated. UHL should also also be exempted from the current "blunt" staff recruitment caps set by the HSE. They said the Hiqa report is the third investigation or review to find overcrowding a significant issue in the HSE Mid West since the tragic death of teenager Aoife Johnston in December 2022 from meningitis-related sepsis after waiting sixteen hours on a trolley."
A year-long Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) investigation concluded the key problem is insufficient inpatient beds in the Mid West to meet current admission demand. Staff in HSE Mid West have been blamed for problems that arise from physical bed capacity rather than performance. The region has the lowest number of Model 4 hospital beds per capita and no Model 3 beds, yet its emergency department sees the highest patient numbers among Model 4 hospitals. Overcrowding creates ongoing patient safety risks. Acceleration of promised new beds, immediate delivery of additional beds, and exemption from blunt recruitment caps were urged. This is the third review noting persistent overcrowding since a December 2022 trolley death.
Read at Irish Independent
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