Over ten thousand bed days have been lost because the HSE and the Minister for Health have failed to tackle ‘delayed discharges’ in Mayo University Hospital and University Hospital Galway. This is a huge causal factor causing overcrowding at these hospitals.
‘Delayed discharge’ patients are clinically fit for discharge from hospital, but because of a lack of home help or a nursing home and district hospital beds, they can’t be discharged. This practice constitutes one of the biggest financial wastes in the health service and has cost the health service nearly €600 million since 2016.
From January to November last year, 10,344 bed days have been lost in Mayo and Galway hospitals due to delayed discharges. Meanwhile we have hundreds of people waiting for home help and district hospitals, like Belmullet, that are starved of investment and have imposed staffing restrictions.
Hundreds of millions is being wasted unnecessarily. Delayed discharges are a huge factor in the trolley crisis and keeps acutely sick patients from getting the hospital beds they need.
It is also incredibly unfair on the patients stuck in hospital who are ready to be discharged when they are deemed medically fit and feel well enough to go home or at least be in their local community. In the case of patients from Erris, families of patients have to travel the infamous R312 which is a terrible experience in itself.
These patients should be given the home help they need so they can be discharged, or given a space in a step down facility or nursing home. That way these hospital beds can be used to get patients into the acute hospitals and off trolleys.
