The number of adults waiting on trolleys in acute hospital emergency departments (EDs) on St Stephen’s Day morning was almost four times higher than last year, according to figures from the Health Service Executive.
The number of children waiting to be admitted to an inpatient hospital bed increased fivefold compared to December 26th last year.
A total of 200 adults were lying on trolleys in EDs at 8am on St Stephen’s Day, 97 of whom had attended hospital in the previous nine hours. The number represents a large increase on St Stephen’s Day last year, according to the HSE, when just 53 people were on trolleys in acute hospitals. The 2020 figure was similar to last year, with 67 patients waiting on trolleys.
What about children?
The number of children waiting for admission to inpatient beds this St Stephen’s morning was significantly lower than the number of adults, with a total of 10 on trolleys at the three Children’s Health Ireland hospitals. Temple Street had the highest number with seven children waiting for beds, with two in Crumlin and one in Tallaght. However, it was still a significant increase on last year when just two children were on trolleys at 8am on St Stephen’s Day.
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The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 has also increased since Christmas Eve, with 656 confirmed cases in Irish hospitals as of 8am on Monday morning, compared to 626 on Saturday morning. Coronavirus hospitalisations have surged in recent weeks with the St Stephen’s Day figures representing a 76 per cent increase on December 11th, when there were 372 patients with Covid-19 in hospital.
Overcrowding in adult and children hospitals is being driven by the surge in winter respiratory viruses, including coronavirus, flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). The HSE in recent days warned it expected these illnesses to bring “the highest pressure on the State’s health service that has ever been seen in the coming weeks”.
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Health services are facing “huge challenges” due to the continuing rise in the number of respiratory illnesses and subsequent increasing rates of hospitalisation, it said. " From our preliminary analysis, the HSE is concerned that we may see over 900 patients in hospital with flu in the first week in January with that number likely continuing to rise further into January. Regarding Covid-19 and other respiratory viruses, we are now seeing a higher number of hospitalised cases this winter than had been anticipated in our more pessimistic projections.”
INMO reaction
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) operates its own trolley count, but does not conduct the count on bank holidays including St Stephen’s Day. However, a spokeswoman for the organisation said the number of people waiting for admission was significantly higher than usual for the time of year and was likely to grow considerably in the coming days.
“We won’t have a clearer picture of what our members are facing until tomorrow [Tuesday] or the day after, but we do know our members are going to be under huge pressure for the days and weeks ahead judging by the trends we’ve seen in the last week alone.”
The situation was entirely predictable, she said.
“The INMO predicted in July, when we saw the trolleys were higher than ever, that we were going to be in for a very difficult winter unless there was proper planning done. We are seeing a knee-jerk reaction from the HSE now when they could have been planning more when they had the space to do so.”
The HSE has recently established a National Crisis Management Team to oversee the health service response to the surge in hospitalisations due to respiratory illnesses. The team comprises senior health service leaders including representatives of hospital groups and community healthcare organisations, and will give national support and guidance to the response of hospitals and community services throughout the country, said the HSE.
