The A&E of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is frequently overcrowded
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams TD has expressed his “grave concern” at the increasing numbers of sick citizens who are confronted at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda with “chronic overcrowding and long waiting times.”
Describing the crisis in Emergency Departments as “unacceptable”, the Louth TD called on the Minister for Health to “take urgent steps to allocate additional resources, including funding, to open closed beds, recruit additional staff and provide for more community homecare nursing support”.
Commenting earlier this week, Deputy Adams said: “On two days of this week Our Lady of Lourdes hospital has topped the list of hospitals across the state facing serious overcrowding. On Tuesday the Irish Nurses and Midwifes Organisation reported that there were 38 patients in the Emergency Department – the highest in the state. And on Wednesday that number was 31 – again the highest in the state.
“Our Lady of Lourdes is regularly in the top three hospitals facing major difficulties in its Accident and Emergency department.
“We have also learned that the Louth Hospital Group General Manager has written to General Practitioners advising them that Our Lady of Lourdes is ‘experiencing extreme levels of surge with regard to medical presentations at present.’
“As a result the hospital has been forced to put in place ‘measures to manage this level of escalation internally.’ This includes advising GPs that the Louth Hospital Group is suspending ‘direct GP referrals to the Acute Medical Assessment Unit in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in order to prioritise current acute medical patient presentations and flow.’
“Earlier this week the INMO described the situation facing the health service as the ‘most significant overcrowding situation since the INMP began counting trolleys over ten years ago.’
“The Minister has the responsibility to ensure patient safety, as well as appropriate standards of care. He must take urgent steps to allocate additional resources, including funding, to open closed beds, recruit additional staff and provide for more community homecare nursing support”.
