The HSE has yet again come in for strong criticism for hospitals being over crowded and massively under staffed, this latest backlash has comes after it has been recently revealed that a 100-year-old woman was left waiting on a hospital trolley for 24 hours in Tallaght Hospital one of the country’s busiest hospitals.
It is understood that the elderly woman was admitted to Tallaght Hospital in Dublin on Wednesday afternoon, however despite her age she was force to wait on a trolley until Thursday evening. It is believed that unnamed woman was suffering from a serious infection. The news was revealed as figures were released showing that Tallaght Hospital had the second highest rate of people waiting on trolleys in the country.
A spokesperson for Tallaght Hospital made a statement regarding the issue in which they said: “While we are precluded from mentioning individual cases, Tallaght Hospital was aware of a delay that existed in allocating a ward bed to an elderly patient yesterday. The hospital regrets any inconvenience experienced in the course of this delay.” The spokesperson went onto say: “Tallaght Hospital, like all acute hospitals, is experiencing specific pressures on adult inpatients due to seasonal peaks in service demand. The hospital has a full escalation process in place to address the peak in demand and to continue to provide safe and quality care to our patients.”
Meanwhile the INMO General Secretary Liam Doran also has had his say on the bed shortage crisis saying: “ care continues to be compromised because of the hospital trolley crisis” . Mr Doran also said that the INMO is to hold talks with the HSE within the next week about the opening of 173 around the country.