Health Minister seeks swift action over 'imbalance' at Mayo hospital
The Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has spoken publicly for the first time about her recent unscheduled visit to Mayo University Hospital, a visit that has been causing some local political ripples in recent weeks.
Speaking in Dáil Éireann today, she outlined: "There were 47 patients in the emergency department (at the time).
"Of those patients, 20 had been admitted for beds, but there was no discharging going on up the hospital.
"Mayo University Hospital remained red all through August, which is completely unacceptable.
"Last weekend, there was not sufficient work being done to discharge during the weekend.
"There were 16 discharges in the hospital on Saturday, there was one on Sunday and there were 47 on Monday.
"The only explanation is that there is an imbalance in staffing. I was there on a random Saturday in August and the emergency department was absolutely overwhelmed.
"There was a serious patient safety issue there. The rest of the hospital was completely empty.
"There were practically no diagnostics going on. There were not even people in the diagnostics area.
"The hospital is not understaffed but it has an understaffing area in the emergency department, specifically because it is not being correctly staffed on the other side.
"I asked Bernard Gloster (head of the HSE) for an analysis of this and I have the data back.
"It is my intention this week to write to every TD and councillor in Mayo to specifically outline exactly what the staffing issues are, exactly what the patient flow issues are - which are a whole-of-hospital responsibility - and what we need to do within Mayo to make this better. "
In a clear criticism of hospital management, she stated: "Let us not confuse ourselves; this is not a staffing issue in Mayo hospital. It has one of the best staffing ratios of all of the model 3 hospitals.
"What is not happening is that this is not translating from a patient flow perspective into making sure the patients are safe and the staff in the emergency department are appropriately supported to make sure they can do their jobs in the way they need to do them.
"It is not understaffed; it needs to be balanced."
She made her remarks reply to concerns raised by Mayo TD Paul Lawless.
He stated: The Minister for Health will know that last month the hospital was in a crisis situation, experiencing over 160 presentations daily despite the fact that just four or five nurses were rostered on a given day.
"This month we are way off peak in terms of the winter period but Mayo University Hospital has been forced to cancel elective procedures. That is how bad things have become.
"We are experiencing a significant and dangerous level of understaffing. In August, a patient was in the back of an ambulance for over 13 hours. That is a verified story that the Minister will be aware of because she attended the hospital on that week.
"There has been an audit done in relation to safe staffing. I have researched this audit.
"My understanding from speaking to Saolta and the management group is that this could provide an additional 30 nurses who are desperately needed for the hospital in Mayo.
"It must be sanctioned. The audit is there; it is sitting in the HSE. I am asking and pleading with the minister, on behalf of all of the doctors and nurses who are worked off their feet, working under incredibly difficult situations and experiencing burnout on a daily basis, to implement the safe staffing framework as quickly as possible.
"I want her to do it this week, if possible. It could take several weeks to get those people on the ground."