Nine patients left waiting more than 24 hours in Mayo ED during February

Nine patients left waiting more than 24 hours in Mayo ED during February

Latest figures released to Aontú TD for Mayo Paul Lawless following a Parliamentary Question, show that in February of this year, 752 patients in Mayo University Hospital's emergency department waited more than nine hours to be either discharged or admitted.

Nine of those patients waited more than 24 hours.

Speaking today, Deputy Lawless said: "This week I was in Castlebar supporting our ambulance workers who are being denied the pay they deserve, despite a Labour Court recommendation and an independent report both calling for change.

"The chaos in our hospitals seems to be worsening each year and our ambulance workers are feeling that pressure too - this is one interconnected crisis.

"At the start of this year we had the horrific case of Stephen Lavelle, who died after no ambulance was available and his family had to drive him 50 miles to hospital.

“When our ED is overwhelmed, ambulances are left waiting hours for handovers and are not available in the community. That is the reality of what overcrowding in our hospital means on the ground."

Deputy Lawless continued: "I highlighted last year how waiting times in MUH were averaging nearly seven hours, representing a 65% increase over the past decade.

"In 2014 the average wait was just four hours. Since 2017 roughly half a million people across the country have left emergency departments without being seen, such is the wait.

"At times of flu or bug outbreaks it is dangerous to leave people waiting in cramped conditions for such lengths, especially people who are already sick.

"What we see from these figures is that in February alone nearly 1,500 people were left waiting longer than six hours in Mayo's ED, that 752 people were waiting longer than nine hours, and that nine people waited more than 24 hours. This is not acceptable.

"A major part of this problem is the acute lack of step-down facilities in the county. Patients who are ready to be discharged cannot leave because there is nowhere for them to go.

"That blocks wards, which overwhelms the ED, which delays ambulances. Until we address step-down capacity, this cycle will continue.

"Our population has increased dramatically in recent decades, but bed capacity, staffing and step-down facilities have not kept pace.

"The HSE and the Minister need to listen to our frontline workers. This has to change", added Deputy Lawless.