Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The HIQA report on Mayo University Hospital, published a few months ago, showed a 10% deficit in medical staff, a 14% deficit in nursing staff, a 15% deficit in healthcare assistance staff and a 23% deficit in pharmacy staff across the hospital. The shortfall was even more acute in the emergency department. That department is just not capable of supporting the needs of Mayo as it is. Dedicated and very hardworking staff are under immense pressure and sometimes barely able to cope. They are not getting the support they need. This weekend, the emergency department at Mayo University Hospital simply did not have the required capacity. Elective surgeries had to be postponed as staff were redirected. Saolta University Health Care Group was forced to issue a statement urging people not to go to the emergency department unless it was absolutely necessary, as if people just rocked up when it was not necessary.

People are not well placed to identify whether their symptoms are urgent and who should attend. People with medical concerns and fears should have a place to turn to.

Research shows that three out of ten people have put off accessing a GP or hospital appointment because they hear that they should not attend a hospital or emergency department unless it is urgent. We also know that 14% of cancers are diagnosed in an emergency department. How many early cancer diagnoses have we missed because people have been told the emergency department cannot cope?

Crowded emergency departments have a knock-on effect. Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar is not meeting ambulance turnaround times. Ninety percent of the ambulances attending the emergency department did not even meet the turnaround time of less than 30 minutes. Imagine waiting for an ambulance, travelling more than 50 miles on some of the worst roads and waiting hours outside an emergency department.

The problem is that community beds have been closed in the district hospitals. The people who made the decision to close them across the board for years and who were adamant that it had to be done have not been held accountable. This must be looked at and those beds must be reopened. We need to look at each county and area in a joined-up way with a bit of common sense around this to make sure people get the healthcare they need.

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