A WARNING has been sounded that there will be bed shortages and serious overcrowding at University Hospital Kerry this winter unless urgent steps are taken to tackle delayed discharges.
New figures reveal that so far this year, 3,887 bed days have been lost at the hospital as a result of delayed discharges – an astonishing 319 per cent increase on 2017 figures.
The information was released to Kerry TD John Brassil who said he has been issuing warnings about the crisis for some time but the Health Minister and the HSE have failed to take any meaningful action.
Up until the end of October, 3,887 bed days had been lost at the hospital and that’s before the annual winter surge takes hold.
Deputy Brassil said the HSE winter plan is merely a rehashing of the funding already announced in the Budget.
“While money has been allocated to specifically focus on transitional care, it is coming very late in the day when the problem is already extremely serious in Kerry,” he said.
The TD said the only way to tackle the issue is a whole of health service approach to include home supports and step-down care in the community.
“Management at UHK says its working on a pilot programme to transfer patients from acute to community beds. However, the pilot is due to run for eight weeks and hasn’t even begun yet. It will be after Christmas before we will know if it’s working,” Deputy Brassil stated.
“The lack of forward planning in health is astounding. I have real concerns about our health service this winter,” he remarked.
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