tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Emergency medicine consultants have again warned of swine flu spreading in our hospital A&Es as hundreds continue to wait for admission on trolleys or chairs.
Doctors want trolley patients awaiting admission to be removed from the country's A&Es so that the risks of swine flu and other contagious diseases can be reduced.
The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM) says the doubling of new H1N1 cases in the past week at a time of record trolley numbers is a cause for "very grave concern."
The IAEM says it is inevitable that cross-infection with the swine flu virus will occur in overcrowded emergency departments where the basic facilities to isolate patients with this condition do not exist, and excessive numbers of patients, many of whom are in "high risk" groups for the flu, are grouped together.
The doctors warn that this scenario will result in death and adverse outcomes for vulnerable patients - "an outcome which is all the more tragic as the situation is both forseeable and preventable."
The IAEM says the Minister for Health and the HSE should immediately mandate the removal of admitted inpatients from EDs so that the cross-infection risks are minimised. It says some of these patients could be housed on already full hospital wards.
The doctors admit while this is not an ideal situation, it is less dangerous than keeping patients on trolleys in EDs.
The Association cited a previous situation in Toronto where a patient with SARS spread it to other patients and staff in an overcrowded A&E.
The IAEM has also called for closed beds to be reopened and for the provision of necessary "step-down" facilities to patients still in acute beds but whose acute care has ended.
The current rate of swine flu in Ireland is 120 per 100,000 people compared to the previous reported figure of 60 per 100,000.
There were 492 ED patients on trolleys in hospitals nationally yesterday morning
http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=18477
Doctors want trolley patients awaiting admission to be removed from the country's A&Es so that the risks of swine flu and other contagious diseases can be reduced.
The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM) says the doubling of new H1N1 cases in the past week at a time of record trolley numbers is a cause for "very grave concern."
The IAEM says it is inevitable that cross-infection with the swine flu virus will occur in overcrowded emergency departments where the basic facilities to isolate patients with this condition do not exist, and excessive numbers of patients, many of whom are in "high risk" groups for the flu, are grouped together.
The doctors warn that this scenario will result in death and adverse outcomes for vulnerable patients - "an outcome which is all the more tragic as the situation is both forseeable and preventable."
The IAEM says the Minister for Health and the HSE should immediately mandate the removal of admitted inpatients from EDs so that the cross-infection risks are minimised. It says some of these patients could be housed on already full hospital wards.
The doctors admit while this is not an ideal situation, it is less dangerous than keeping patients on trolleys in EDs.
The Association cited a previous situation in Toronto where a patient with SARS spread it to other patients and staff in an overcrowded A&E.
The IAEM has also called for closed beds to be reopened and for the provision of necessary "step-down" facilities to patients still in acute beds but whose acute care has ended.
The current rate of swine flu in Ireland is 120 per 100,000 people compared to the previous reported figure of 60 per 100,000.
There were 492 ED patients on trolleys in hospitals nationally yesterday morning
http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=18477