The sister of a woman who waited 29 hours for a bed in University College Hospital Galway this week has said emergency department staff have been working under “enormous pressure” due to the volume of admissions.
Gráinne Ní Dhómhnaill, whose sister Seóna was rushed to hospital from Carraroe by ambulance on Tuesday, said that elderly people were “sitting on chairs and stools” all that night in the hospital, and staff were working in “impossible conditions”.
“Staff gave my sister and others 200 per cent care, and I have no issue with that at all, but they were under such pressure,” Ms Ní Dhomhnaill said. An ambulance had been called after her sister experienced three seizures.
Her sister was given a trolley shortly after admission on Tuesday morning, and received a CAT scan, but it was almost 5pm on Wednesday before she was allocated a bed.
Ms Ní Dhómhnaill said a consultant had advised that Seóna should have neurological tests and an MRI scan.
University College Hospital Galway is part of the newly-named “Saolta” hospital group and has one of the busiest emergency departments on the west coast.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) "trolley watch" figures reported that it had 15 patients on trolleys and nine in wards above the stated complement of that ward/unit on Wednesday.
This compared to 30 on trolleys and four patients above the stated ward/unit complement in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital.
Saolta and the Health Service Executive apologised to patients and their families, and warned that the pressure on emergency departments was likely to continue.
