Almost 200,000 bed days lost in discharge crisis
TD’S plea for care support in homes to end scandal
ALMOST 200,000 bed days have been lost from hospitals this year as a result of delayed discharges, it emerged yesterday.
Figures from the HSE show bed blocking due to red tape in signing patients out stood at 197,160 at the end of October – on target for a 15% rise from last year.
A taskforce is needed to address the “shocking” issue as the system creaks under the added pressure of flu season, Fianna Fail spokeswoman on Older People Mary Butler TD said.
She believes the dramatic increase in lost bed days in our acute hospitals demands a direct intervention from Health Minister Simon Harris.
Ms Butler said: “The figures are nothing short of scandalous and serve to support calls for the urgent need for investment in step-down care and home supports.
“The numbers are truly shocking and at the centre of all of this are people.
“People who are being kept in hospital unnecessarily because the Government has failed to provide the supports needed to allow them to be cared for either at home or in their community.” HSE statistics show the monthly average has surged from 17,449 in the first three months of the year to 19,716 – despite the fact January to March are traditionally the busiest months. Ms Butler said: “The fact the situation has deteriorated so badly over the spring and summer must act as a wake-up call for the Health Minister. If the monthly average continues 236,592 bed days will be lost in 2019 – that would be almost 15% more than 2018 when 206,606 bed days were lost in Irish hospitals.
“We need a centralised, co-ordinated approach to delayed discharges. Each hospital group should have a taskforce.
“We could vastly reduce trolley overcrowding if the Government got serious about designing a plan to ensure timely access of step-down care for these patients.”