Emergency departments in NI: 12-hour waits for hospital beds

Two aged sufferers have been ready for admission to the emergency division of the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) in Belfast for greater than 5 days, in line with BBC News NI.

This comes after greater than 500 sufferers couldn’t be discharged from the hospital on Sunday night time regardless of being medically match.

With no acceptable look after them locally, they remained bedridden, stopping different sick individuals from being admitted to hospital wards.

On Sunday, greater than 400 individuals who got here to emergency departments throughout Northern Ireland have been instructed they must wait not less than 12 hours for a hospital mattress.

The Health Department mentioned long-term options require continued funding and enchancment.

At the RVH on Monday, BBC News NI heard {that a} man with flu was being handled in a disused tea room.

Three different individuals have been in the identical space for 4 days.

Emergency division head nurse Claire Wilmont mentioned employees have been “treating the most vulnerable elderly sick patients in an unbearable environment”.

The present chilly wave and flu figures in Northern Ireland are nonetheless at their peak, so the well being service is bracing itself for a tricky week.

Some individuals working over the weekend instructed BBC News NI that lengthy waits have been a trigger for concern – as delays put some sufferers vulnerable to hurt.

An emergency division (ED) advisor mentioned it was outrageous that hall care had develop into “almost normal” in emergency drugs.

Another mentioned the projected Christmas spike wouldn’t change except consideration was paid to social care in Northern Ireland.

Health unions have instructed BBC News NI that though the flu spike was broadly predicted, little was achieved on the bottom to deal with the inevitable.

Among the potential situations being mentioned by employees was the involvement of the navy throughout December and January for extra help in wards and ambulatory care.

It additionally instructed that the well being regulator, RQIA, must be extra versatile about guidelines in nursing properties that require residents to be despatched to an ED somewhat than obtain care in-home.

To assist cut back the unfold of infections, together with flu, many hospitals in England Hospital visits are restricted And sufferers and guests are requested to put on face masks to stop additional unfold of the flu.

The chilly circumstances will put the system underneath even better stress and the general public will probably be urged to stay cautious and maybe suppose twice about venturing out.

Figures seen by BBC News NI present the variety of individuals ready greater than 12 hours on Sunday night was:

• 61 at Craigavon ​​Area Hospital
• 51 in Antrim Area Hospital
• 49 on the Royal Victoria Hospital
• Ulster Hospital 48
• 42 at Altnagelvin Hospital
• Causeway Hospital 35
• 24 Daisy Hill Hospital
• 21 at Mater Informorum Hospital
• 19 at South Western Acute Hospital

According to the Health Department, long-term options require continued funding and enchancment.

A spokesperson mentioned the demand for care at present exceeds the capability of the well being service to supply.

The assertion mentioned that in current days, the Health Minister had met with emergency division employees, and had discussions with each the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

“The Minister has shared his serious concerns about the impact of the enormous pressure on staff and patients and will follow up on this in the coming weeks,” the spokesperson mentioned.

The vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Northern Ireland has mentioned it’s “impossible” to handle the variety of sufferers attending emergency departments.

The 12-hour look ahead to a mattress was in all probability a “conservative estimate,” he mentioned.

“Every department in this country will tell you that patients are waiting three or four days,” he mentioned.

“We are in the worst situation we have ever seen, with respect to today's headlines, for emergency medical workers, we knew this was going to happen, it doesn't surprise us because this has been the trend for a long time.

“There is no physical location to bring people to get evaluated.”

Dr Nicola Heron, a Londonderry-based GP, mentioned the decline in vaccine uptake had pushed an increase in respiratory infections.

“Then inevitably in years where there is poor uptake, we see a huge increase in respiratory tract infections, coughs, colds, flu, and the added concern of something like Covid this year… flu appears to be prominent this year Is,” he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) said it is not too late for people to get a flu vaccine as cases have peaked, and this will protect the public and the health service well beyond the winter months.

“We are in the middle of our winter virus season,” Dr. Joan McClellan mentioned. BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

“All year long our hospitals and EDs are really busy, and during the winter, in addition to the normal pressures, we get winter viruses, primarily COVID, flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).”

One possible reason for this may be that “individuals have forgotten that flu could be a very critical sickness,” Dr. McLean said.

“We need to update our flu vaccine every year because the flu changes every year.”