Winter plan for Naas General Hospital described as 'too little, too late'

A new Winter Plan for Naas General Hospital is currently being considered by the Department of Health, who have identified the Kildare hospital as one area of the health sector that needs additional help over the festive period.

Emmet Stagg, the Kildare North Labour General Election candidate, raised the matter with Minister for Health Simon Harris, over what actions were to be taken to relieve overcrowding pressure in Naas General Hospital over the coming months under the Winter Plan, with particular reference to reducing the number of persons on trolleys in Accident and Emergency and Hospital Wards.

Mr Stagg stated that this week at Naas General Hospital we had 36 patients on trolleys awaiting admission to a Hospital Bed on Monday of this week.

“Waiting on trolleys, is an indignity to the patients, an added concern for their health, and distressing for patients and their families,” said Mr Stagg.

“Nursing staff at Naas General Hospital emergency department are doing their best but the lack of bed capacity causes the inevitable trolley crisis.”

According to Minister Harris, a new Winter Plan for 2018/19 is currently under consideration by the Department of Health, and it would provide a four-week enhanced focus period from 17 December to 13 January, targeting nine key sites of concern. Naas General Hospital has been identified as one of these nine sites, based on performance in previous winters.

As part of Budget 2019, an additional €10m in funding is being provided in 2018 for social care measures to enable older people to leave hospital and return to a more appropriate care setting, including their own home, as quickly as possible with the supports they need. The Department has sanctioned the release of €5 million of this additional funding to enable the deployment of social and primary care measures to support this transition.

The Minister further added that increasing bed capacity is a Government priority and that over the past 12 months an additional 240 beds have been opened, including 11 additional beds in Naas General Hospital and a further 78 additional beds are due to come on stream nationally in 2019.

Reacting to the Ministers response Mr Stagg stated that the Governments Winter Plan is too little, too late, as can be seen by the numbers currently on trolleys at Naas General Hospital this week and over the past number of months.

“They, the Government and the HSE had all year to get this right to relive patient suffering and they are still considering the Winter Plan.”