Emergency services operated with two ambulances fewer than normal because of “short-notice absences” of staff on the night a man bled to death after he severed an artery.
Such absences were "not an exceptional circumstance", Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin told the Dáil during exchanges over the health service and emergency department delays.
Mr Howlin said eight emergency ambulances and two rapid-response vehicles were operating on the night “of this dreadful accident” when Adulates Donnelly died in Dundalk after severing an artery when he cut his arm on a glass panel. His home was five minutes from the ambulance base.
The Minister said there were normally 10 ambulances on duty.
“The reduction in capacity was due to short-notice absences on the night, which I understand is not an exceptional circumstance.”
Target
He said the target for responding to emergencies was 18 minutes and the rapid-response vehicle arrived in 23 minutes. The emergency services were called at 3.06am on October 26th and the response vehicle arrived at 3.29am and the ambulance at 3.49am.
He also said gardaí were investigating an alleged assault on an 89-year-old woman who was placed in an all-male ward because of overcrowding. A male patient had been moved to a separate area and was being monitored by security on a 24-hour basis until he was placed in a long-term care facility appropriate to his needs.
29 hours
Sinn Féin finance spokesman
Pearse Doherty
criticised the Minister as the Dáil also dealt with the case of the 91-year-old man kept on a trolley for 29 hours in Tallaght Hospital.
He said everyone knew of different cases, and on Wednesday there were more than 400 people on hospital trolleys and this was likely to continue.
“Government Deputies have spoken about the inevitability that this will escalate in coming months,” he said.
“It is inevitable because of the policies the Government is pursuing, but it is not inevitable that every day we need to have 400 patients” on trolleys.
Mr Howlin said 700 additional new nurses were now working, and the number of medical and dental staff had increased 10.5 per cent since the beginning of the year and was now higher than during the boom.
Fianna Fáil public expenditure spokesman Dara Calleary said Tallaght Hospital management was more interested in investigating how correspondence was leaked to the media about the 91-year-old man and not why he was left on a trolley.
The Minister said the man should not have been left on a trolley but that was separate from his right to privacy “which neither the hospital authorities nor the Government can ignore”.
