Patients on trolleys in Irish hospitals is still a big problem, say our nurses
The numbers of patients on hospital trolleys has fallen generally over recent months but nurses have said the problem is still significantly worse than when it was declared a national emergency in 2007.
On the opening day of its annual conference in Killarney yesterday, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation also said care had been compromised by the departure of thousands of nurses from the health service who had not been replaced.
Analysis carried out by the union showed that, nationally, the number of people on trolleys in the first four months of 2012 fell by 17 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The union also said over 2,400 public beds were closed around the country. Of these 1,300 were acute beds, with the remainder being continuing care beds.
General secretary Liam Doran said while good work was happening, there was much more to do.
He said it was no surprise that there were still a number of “black spots” with regard to emergency department overcrowding.
“You simply do not have enough bed capacity to cater for demand. That means the trolley figures are getting worse in some hospitals but those same hospitals have significant bed closures. This cannot continue if we are to address the overcrowding problem.”
Mr Doran said 5,000 nurses had left the Irish health system in the last 3½ years, and 2,000 in the past year.
He said no amount of reassignment, reconfiguration, rerostering or redeployment could cover the gaps.
Mr Doran said such gaps were increasing. “It is the view of the executive of this organisation that care is now being compromised. And senior management in the system are not listening to nurses and midwives as they articulate their concerns about patient care and the ability to meet demands of patients; to provide the full care plan drawn down for patients.
“Management have their own pressures but they have to give more primacy and priority to nurses and midwives at the frontline who say, ‘we are too short, we are now in an unsafe environment where safe care cannot be provided on a 24/7 basis’.”
Asked about where care was being compromised, Mr Doran said in some facilities for the elderly one nurse was looking after 30, 40, or 50 patients for 16 hours a day with one healthcare assistant because staff were not replaced. He said individual examples would emerge during the conference.
Mr Doran said that among the reasons for the fall in the numbers on trolleys was that the Department of Health’s special delivery unit was requiring local hospital management to accept that this was a problem that had to be managed on a full-time basis. He said, in addition, funding was being provided to open some extra beds.
Mr Doran also said some hospital managers had been trying to “hide” the extent of overcrowding by putting those on trolleys into inpatient wards, a practice that was supposed to be reserved for major emergency situations.
While the numbers on trolleys fell in most areas over recent months, the study found there had been increases at the Mater in Dublin, the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. He said Drogheda was “downsized too quickly”.
Ireland’s Tourism industry hails the retention of the 9% VAT
The tourism industry in Ireland has welcomed the retention of the lower 9 per cent VAT rate across the sector until the end of next year.
The VAT rate on services sectors such as hotels, restaurants, leisure centres and attractions was reduced from 13.5 per cent last year as a “temporary measure” to boost demand. Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar yesterday confirmed the lower rate would continue until the end of 2013 at least.
Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, said the next 18 months would be crucial for the sector.
The Irish Hotels Federation said the news meant hotel managers could now plan properly for next year. Its president, Michael Vaughan, said the rate cut had already provided a huge boost to the sector.
“It provides much-needed visibility and clarity, which will enable international tour operators to plan their 2013 trips to Ireland with greater certainty on pricing.
“The 9 per cent VAT rate gives tourism enterprises a key competitive advantage when marketing Ireland as a tourism destination, particularly in the run-up to The Gathering in 2013, which is to be Ireland’s biggest-ever tourism initiative.”
Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland said that in recent years, “perceptions of the value available here among overseas consumers have improved and we know that a recent survey by hotels.comshowed that Dublin hotels are now the least expensive in Europe.
“Tourism Ireland is placing significant emphasis on value, to drive home to potential holidaymakers everywhere our message about the superb range of offers and value available in Ireland.”
Unnamed Public Hospital faces fine for not clearing its waiting lists
A public hospital is facing substantial fines for failing to meet Government targets for treating patients on its waiting list.
The chief operating officer of the Department of Health’s special delivery unit, Tony O’Brien, said it was in significant discussions with one institution about the extent of the penalty to be imposed.
He said all the relevant information had to be obtained before a final figure could be decided upon.
Mr O’Brien said the potential for the fine arose because a number of patients remained untreated at the end of March, having been on the waiting list for 12 months. He declined to identify the hospital concerned.
Under measures announced earlier this year, the Department of Health said hospitals that did not meet its target of treating patients on their waiting lists within one year would face potential fines of €25,000 per case per month.
Alternatively, hospitals would have to pay for the patients waiting longer than one year to be treated elsewhere.
The Government’s target for the maximum period on waiting lists is to be reduced to nine months from September.
Mr O’Brien said the hospital in question was not University College Hospital in Galway, which had the largest number of patients waiting longer than 12 months at the end of last year.
“Galway has been in what we call ‘special measures’ since it failed to meet targets for waiting lists last December. We are working with them very actively to ensure they meet the September target and it would not be very fruitful to impose incremental penalties on them as they go along.”
Beaumont Hospital, which had more than 80 patients waiting over a year for treatment according to figures released by the HSE in February, said last night that it had cleared its waiting lists.
Speaking about the controversy over the hiring of outside experts by the special delivery unit, Mr O’Brien said it had brought in people with specific expertise and a track record elsewhere. He said the benefits of that would be seen over time.
Mr O’Brien also said that more beds would be provided at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, where a capacity issue had been identified. Funding for 11 more beds would be forthcoming. He said where it was clear a hospital did not have the right capacity this needed to be addressed.
One man is arrested over Cork to Mallow harness race
One man has been arrested and investigations against a number of others are continuing after the Cork to Mallow road was used for a harness race on Saturday.
A video of part of the race, on the main Cork to Mallow road, has been uploaded to YouTube and to a number of other social media websites.
The road is one of the busiest commuter corridors in the country, handling an average of more than 15,000 vehicles per day.
At around 7am last Saturday morning, part of the road was turned into a race track involving two horses pulling distinctive two-wheeled sulky carts and riders.
The dangers were obvious. At one stage, four vehicles lined up across the road. At another, one of a number of following vehicles narrowly missed an on-coming articulated lorry and trailer.
Several cars travelling in the opposite direction to the race had to drive onto the hard shoulder, as other drivers overtook the riders.
Gardaí were contacted and the race was stopped. They say a full investigation is now under way.
Gardaí are appealing to motorists who were on the Cork/Mallow between 7am and 8am last Saturday to contact them.
They say they have identified a number of the people involved and say they are satisfied they are members of the Traveller community.
Permanent TSB Bank’s chief executive apologises to customers for mistakes
The new chief executive of Permanent TSB is writing to more than one million customers apologising for past mistakes and saying that the bank’s €4 billion Government bailout “could have been used much better elsewhere”.
Jeremy Masding, the UK banker appointed in February, is saying, in a letter being sent to customers over the coming weeks, that he is determined to rectify these mistakes.
“As a result of some of the bank’s decisions and actions, the Irish taxpayer has had to invest substantial funds when those funds could have been used much better elsewhere,” he writes.
“Many of the bank’s customers have suffered financially because of the impact of decisions which should not have been taken. I apologise for the mistakes which were made and I am determined to do all in my power to rectify them.”
Mr Masding said that the bank, which is 99.2 per cent State owned, would “act responsibly to protect the investment which the taxpayer has made in the bank”.
A spokesman said Mr Masding felt it was critical at the outset to acknowledge the bank’s unacceptable performance in recent years and “to apologise to taxpayers and customers for the mistakes”.
The Government effectively nationalised Permanent TSB last year by injecting €2.7 billion following last year’s stress tests of the banks. A further €1.3 billion will be raised through the Government’s purchase of Irish Life.
The troika and the Government approved a plan last month to carve a good bank out of Permanent TSB by moving about a third of its €34 billion in loans to an internal bad bank to be run down.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said that Permanent TSB has the potential to become a “third national bank” to compete with Bank of Ireland and AIB.
In his letter Mr Masding says that a new, “more humble” Permanent TSB will emerge over the coming years. He said the bank would work to start lending again and help customers in arrears.
“We understand that being in arrears is stressful. We have a wide range of options available to help everyone in this situation.”
The bank would review mortgage rates regularly to ensure they were “as competitive as possible”, he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment