'Worst ever seen' - Laois Offaly frontline hospital staff tell Laois TD

Hospital staff in Laois and Offaly have never experienced worse scenario than this winter according to Laois Offaly TD Brian Stanley who wants Minister Stephen Donnelly to show some 'real leadership' in helping to ease problems faced by Frontline workers.

While staff at hospitals in Tullamore and Portlaoise have made some inroads into clearing trollies from Emergency Departments, both are extremely short beds.

Sinn Féin TD for the two counties Brian Stanley said he has heard first hand testimonies from staff about the crisis.

"I am deeply concerned by the huge pressure that our Hospitals are under. Staff at the hospital are doing their very best but are struggling to cope with the increased workload. Staff have informed me that this is the worst they have ever seen," he said.

The Laois-based TD believed that there are ways to alleviate the pressures in the short term but this most be directed from the top.

“The Minister for Health must show real leadership and take the lead in tackling the crisis in public hospitals in Portlaoise and Tullamore,’’ he insisted.

In a statement, Dep Stanley called for a series of measures which he said would would marshal all available healthcare resources across the entire system to ease pressure on acute hospitals and improve management of emergency care. He outlined how this might work.

“This means the Health Minister must convene daily meetings with HSE leadership and regularly engage with regional management to ensure all public and private healthcare resources are being used to the best effect.

"The Minister must engage with regional management in the Midlands to ensure they are fully supported to use all capacity in their areas to support emergency departments. Best practice from other hospitals should be followed where appropriate including prioritising emergency and urgent care, redeploying staff from elective care to emergency departments, and using hospital capacity normally reserved for day-case and elective care to provide surge capacity.

“The Minister should maximise the deployment of senior doctors and appropriate specialists to emergency departments and wards to ensure that experienced decision makers are available at all times," he said.

The Sinn Féin TD also wants a co-ordinated use of resources.

"There needs to be greater collaboration between community healthcare and acute hospitals to ensure that recovery and transitional care beds are available in Abbeyleix (Community Nursing Unit) etc and in the community for speedy discharges and the provision of care outside of hospitals where appropriate. There must also be greater engagement with GPs, especially those providing out-of-hours services, to better support primary care which is also overwhelmed with respiratory infections," he said.

No trollies but very little space in Portlaoise hospital

Partner hospitals struggling with Covid have no beds

Dep Stanley, who chairs the Dáil Public Accounts committee, said the electorate expect more.

"It is clear that there is an emergency care crisis in acute hospitals and people in Laois / Offaly are rightly concerned by the Government's slow response. This level of overcrowding is due to Government failure to sufficiently invest in frontline services and staffing over the last 2 decades. Hospitals are supposed to operate at 80-85% capacity outside of winter to ensure we have capacity for surges, yet we had a summer trolley crisis this year. Most hospitals have been operating at near or above 100% capacity year-round, which meant that this crisis was not only predictable but inevitable,’’ he said.

'I think there's more to me’ - brave Laois Operation Transformation leader Andrea Daly

The TD said Sinn Féin would continue to press the Minister for Health on these issues, to ensure that the change required is delivered urgently because he insisted,  "patients and health staff  deserve better".