Wicklow T.D. Says Hospital Discharge Delays Are Getting Worse

With 582 patients waiting on a bed in the country’s hospitals yesterday, Fianna Fáil is warning that  if current trends continue, delayed discharges from hospitals will lead to a loss of over 200,000 bed days in 2019.

The party’s spokesperson on Health, Wicklow T.D. Stephen Donnelly says just under 52,400 bed days were lost through delayed discharges in the first three months of this year.

Already this year a code black was declared at the A and E department  at Cork University Hospital, with patients waiting more than 12 hours  for treatment, while the INMO recorded 81 patients on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick - the highest daily figure ever recorded in an Irish hospital.

Stephen Donnelly says measures have to be implemented to free up beds.