Hospital breaches emergency department targets

The number of patients waiting over six hours for treatment in the emergency department at Galway University Hospital is still breaching official targets, despite a dramatic improvement in the latest returns.
The total number of patients waiting over the recommended six-hour waiting time fell from 167 in June to 44 a month later at University College Hospital, Galway and Merlin Park.

 

According to the Health Service Executive (HSE) target, all patients in the emergency department of hospitals should be treated in less than six hours.

Figures produced by the HSE’s Healthstat Dashboard revealed 88 patients were waiting up to six hours in Galway University Hospital (GUH) last June, 75 were waiting between six and 12 hours, 102 were left waiting between 12 and 24 hours, while another 20 spent over a day in the emergency department.

Although these figures improved significantly in the July return, GUH still received a red card for emergency department waiting times. Out of the 2,391patients who were admitted for treatment at GUH, 26 waited for up to six hours for treatment in July, 25 had to wait between six and 12 hours, 14 waited between 12 and 24 hours while two had to wait over a day for treatment.

The casualty department still scores a red, as 41 patients in July were outside the HSE target of having all patients waiting less than six hours for treatment.

Hospital elective medical and surgical procedures waiting times for children still remain very high, as 171 children were outside the recommended three-month target for treatment.

Patients are also waiting up to 200 days for routine CT and MRI outpatient diagnostics. Day of procedure admission rate for elective in-patients also scores a red.

However, the hospital performed well for GP and consultant to hospital referral waiting times for routine outpatient physiotherapy, waiting times for urgent colonoscopy, day care procedure rates, as well as adult hospital elective medical and surgical procedure waiting times.

Concern about the waiting times in the emergency department at GUH was raised by Councillor Mary Hoade at a recent HSE West Forum meeting.

According to official HSE figures, the average number of patients awaiting admission at 8am in GUH increased from 17 in January to 24 in February before falling to 15 in March.

The figures for April recorded a slight drop to 14 and jumped to 30 in May when the Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) was closed. There was a significant reduction in June to nine, the average number dropped slightly to eight last July before seven patients were recorded in August.

A HSE spokesperson noted the Healthstat report does not reflect the fact that Galway University Hospitals was one of the hospitals that met the Department of Health’s SDU inpatient waiting list target at the end of September. The SDU targets are that no adult will wait longer than nine months, no child will wait longer than 20 weeks and no patient would wait longer than 13 weeks for a routine scope.

“We have decreased the trolley waits despite significant increase in ED admissions. In GUH in September there were on average 10 patients waiting to be admitted at 8am (down from an average of 24 in February).

“Specific actions taken in GUH include extending the opening times of the Acute Medical Unit to 24 hours and opening a 32-bed short-stay medical unit. We have appointed two new patient co-ordinators (medicine and surgery) and a permanent discharge co-ordinator to ensure that patients get into hospital as quickly as possible.

“We have reviewed the bed usage and assigned beds specifically for medicine (including oncology) and surgery use. Now that we have better information on the flows of patients, we are able to plan towards delivering zero nine-hour waits and 95% six-hour waits in line with national targets.

“Although we still have some way to go, we have evidence that our approach to date is showing results,” she said.

At the end of this month, the spokeswoman pledged the HSE would be opening a dedicated theatre admission lounge, which will greatly improve the day of procedure admission rate, as it will mean patients who are reviewed in a pre-assessment clinic will be admitted to the hospital and straight into theatre for their procedures.

“As the HealthStat reports have a time-lag, the improvements that patients will benefit from will not be seen in published reports for a number of months,” she added.