IHCA statement on discharging of patients at St James's Hospital

“While the method, encouraging prompt discharge of patients at St James’s Hospital through incentives for individual hospital wards, was ill-judged, it does not take away from the underlying issue faced by the hospital professionals and all acute hospitals across the country. Namely, the severe shortage of acute hospital beds.

This lack of bed capacity is placing huge pressures on all hospital staff to ensure that patients requiring treatment can access timely care, including through freeing up hospital beds and getting patients off trolleys.

 
Ireland has the one of the lowest number of acute hospital beds in the EU, at 31% below the EU average. This has led to an exceptional high bed occupancy rate of 94% in our acute hospitals.

 
This lack of capacity translates in practice into significant numbers of patients waiting on chairs or being treated on trolleys, and intensifies pressures on staff, such as at St James’s Hospital, to discharge patients as quickly as medically appropriate.

However, yet again, the real scandal is the Government continuing to ignore this issue”. 

ENDS. 

For information contact:

Amanda Glancy, PR360, 087 2273108/01 637 1777 amanda@pr360.ie