Mayo General Hospital is under huge pressure this week as staff experience increased demand for services from members of the public.
An alert released on Tuesday last stated: “The Emergency Department at Mayo General Hospital has been extremely busy this week, with a high number of patients requiring admission. It continues to be very busy today (Tuesday ) and all beds are in use in the hospital at present.
“Due to the extra pressure on the Emergency Department, it has been necessary to accommodate patients in the Medical Assessment Unit, adding extra pressure on that Unit. Every effort is being made to identify beds for those patients who require admission.”
The public are now being advised not to present at Mayo General unless absolutely necessary as due to continuing pressure on staff and services, delays can now be expected.
“People who are attending the Emergency Department at Mayo General Hospital can expect delays. We would encourage the public to visit the Emergency Department only in the case of real emergencies, and would also advise people to contact their GP or GP Out-of-Hours service in the first instance.
“Mayo General Hospital regrets that any patient would have to spend longer in the Emergency Department than they would like.”
Mayo Independent councillor, Michael Kilcoyne has stated that the emergency situation at Mayo General is just one of many crises set to arise in regard to public health services.
“The hospital is simply jammed up there at the moment. There are less and less beds on an ongoing basis at Mayo General and staff have retired and not been replaced. I understand the hospital is down in total by about 100 staff in general, with psychiatric services in Mayo particularly badly hit with staff numbers cut from 260 by almost half.
“What is happening now is a build up. People are getting sicker because they are no longer going in to have routine tests carried out when they feel unwell and over time, many become so sick they become emergencies, in some cases even proving fatal. The longer people are waiting the sicker they become because what you needed to have done, but didn’t have done, gets worse. There are people in very bad shape. Elective admissions have not been dealt with and it will continue getting worse because the required number of staff are not there.”
Cllr Kilcoyne said the current crisis was merely a symptom of worse to come as a result of the continuing cutbacks and austerity measures being enforced by government, with similar scenarios likely to follow in the education and social welfare systems.
“Health is just one symptom, the same will apply to education, and the worst is cuts in social welfare in relation to older people, some of whom are now being forced to wait an extra two years to get their pension. This is despite the fact they have been paying PRSI all their lives and their employers have been paying it for them, on the basis they would be entitled to their pension at age 65. But now the goalposts have changed and they are told they must wait until they are age 66 years of age in 2014, 67 in 2021 and 68 in 2028.
“This means that people who are now in their early 50s will lose up to €40,000 over the course of these first three years and will be left in poverty because their contract of employment will retire them at 65, leaving them up to three years with no work and no pay. This will also have a major effect on people in general. Ireland is set to become the country where you will work until you drop.
“The situation is grave. This isn’t what people were promised. They were promised a world class health service. If everyone gave all their money to the banks they would have nothing left. How can you run an economy if you hand it over? Why should we continue to pay when we haven’t a good health system?.”
Padraig Heverin, Branch Organiser Siptu Mayo Health Services added that despite an agreed staffing of 250, psychiatric services in Mayo are now being run with 133 staff with the potential of 15 more going in the near future.
“Already we are operating at less than 50 per cent and all the closures of the mental health units in hospitals in Mayo are going ahead - and it is only a matter of time before all are hit.
“What is happening is that the retirements are kicking in. It doesn’t take effect immediately but after a month or two, things start building up. People take up the slack for a while but then what you will find is sick leave will increase because entire units are having to be run by two instead of six staff and student nurses are being thrown completely in the deep end. There is so much paperwork to fill as well as disclaimers, risk assessment forms, coroner notifications – while the same amount of care plans have to be filled every evening. People are simply stressed out.”
Mr Heverin believes that the public service is set to become so inaccessible that people will be forced to hand over money to pay for health care in the private sector.
“Some big guns will open a private service, the problem will be outsourced and the public will be expected to pay for the privilege. Ultimately there won’t be a public health service in this country. Instead Ireland is set to become like America. If you have money, you will be OK, if you don’t, hard luck.”
