Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to be quizzed by MLAs in 'emergency meeting' on A&E winter backlog as RCN says situation 'one of most difficult ever seen'

On New Year's Eve more than 400 people who attended EDs had to endure a wait of more than 12 hours to be seen, according to figures released by Stormont health committee chair and deputy chair Liz Kimmins of Sinn Fein and Danny Donnelly of Alliance.

Both called for the urgent committee meeting with Minister Mike Nesbitt.

CONCERNS FROM RCN

Commenting on the extreme pressures, Professor Rita Devlin, executive director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Northern Ireland, told the News Letter: “The situation being experienced by both patients and staff in our emergency departments is one of the most difficult we have ever seen.

“Patients are waiting lengthy times for treatment and staff are struggling to meet demand. This is not a position, as nurses, that we want to be in, but the system has been running at breaking point for far too long.

“A combination of a system that has been working well beyond capacity since the summer, alongside winter pressures and the rising level of flu means that our emergency departments are struggling to look after the number of elderly, vulnerable and really sick patients attending.

“A really concerning factor is that corridor care in our hospitals has become almost normalised which is completely unacceptable.”

ROYAL COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE CONCERNS

In November the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) warned that Northern Ireland’s Winter Preparedness Plan was “too little, too late” to tackle the tough winter season ahead in EDs and flagged up the signs that this winter could be “the most difficult yet”.

RCEM’s vice president for Northern Ireland, Dr Russell McLaughlin, said at the time: “There is little in this plan that will provide our members and patients in Northern Ireland any hope that this winter will be better for A&Es than the terrible winters we have experienced over the last few years – indeed, the signs are that this could be the most difficult yet.”

STORMONT OPPOSITION PERSPECTIVE

SDLP health spokesperson Colin McGrath said the whole executive must take responsibility for the current crisis.

He said: “We are in this position now because the executive and the health minister did not heed warnings from those within our health service that we were facing the most difficult winter yet.”

GP SURGERIES OVERFLOWING?

The BBC’s ‘Good Morning Ulster’ reported yesterday that a significant added pressure on EDs around Northern Ireland is from patients who cannot get appointments with their GPs.

BMA NI Council chair Alan Stout responded that the waiting times were partly caused by flu cases, for which some require hospital care, while many others are there for other reasons.

He told the News Letter: “There are literally thousands of patients being seen in GP practices every single day including throughout the Christmas period either in regular surgeries or in out of hours.

“Patients who may feel it is taking too long to get through to their GP need to persevere, we are dealing with hundreds of phone calls every day and need to see or speak to the most urgent first.

“When appropriate we will send people to an ED for further assessment.”

DUP: TOO MANY WELL PEOPLE IN HOSPITAL

The DUP says there are far too many people taking up hospital beds who are fit to be discharged.

Health spokesperson Diane Dodds MLA said: “The numbers attending EDs don’t appear to be significantly higher than last year, but patients aren’t progressing through hospitals.

“Last March when I uncovered that 628 patients fit to leave hospital were having their discharge delayed, I was told that trusts would be performance managed on delayed discharges and an unscheduled care forum had been established to actively address the issues.

“Despite this, on November 27 when my colleague Alan Robinson and I met the chief executive of the Northern Trust we were told that on that day 26% of all beds in Antrim Hospital were occupied by patients deemed fit for discharge.”

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH RESPONDS

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “Demand for care is currently well in excess of what the health service can provide. Health services across these islands are facing similar pressures.

"In recent days, the Health Minister has met emergency department staff working relentlessly to provide the best possible care they can in the circumstances, and has held discussions with both the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

"The Minister shares their serious concerns about the impact of the immense pressures on staff and patients and will follow up with further engagement in the coming weeks. "When launching this year’s winter preparedness plan, the Minister publicly warned that ‘a very difficult winter period’ was expected.

"Annual plans set out immediate measures to alleviate some of the pressures on services. They cannot by themselves eradicate winter pressures. Longer-term solutions are needed to address the capacity shortfall across health and social care, as detailed in the three year plan recently launched by the Minister.

"This will require sustained investment and reform. Improving social care provision is a priority for its own sake and to help speed up hospital discharge which is a critical factor in enabling patient flow in our hospitals during periods of high demand on urgent and emergency care.

"This year’s health budget was extremely challenging, meaning it was a struggle to maintain existing services, let alone fund large scale expansions and improvements.”