The idea that 1,000 patients could end up on trolleys in a single day in Irish hospitals is “not inconceivable”, consultants have claimed.

Some 931 patients were left waiting on trolleys on Tuesday (January 3), the highest single-day figure ever recorded, and it is believed that the flu wave has not yet peaked.

Expressing its concern over the continued pressures being faced by acute services, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) emphasised that public hospital staff are already working tirelessly in an attempt to provide care to their patients.

“Consultants are on call 24/7, often practising over and above recommended levels, but the reality is there simply aren’t enough of us to meet increased demand. We are still working with 40% less consultant staffing in Ireland compared to the EU average,” an IHCA spokesperson explained.

The association insisted that the current issues faced by services have been further compounded by “the failure of government to put in place bed and staffing commitments dating back years”.

“When consultants do eventually get to see patients, we face restricted care flows due to inadequate bed and theatre capacity, and required staffing levels. 

“The Winter Plan 2022/23 committed to appointing 51 additional emergency medicine consultants, yet as we hit the peak of winter illness, none of these have been appointed as yet on a permanent basis, with just approximately 20 locum consultants in place. This is not surprising given that it took, on average, nine months to fill a vacant consultant post in 2022,” the spokesperson said.

The IHCA suggested that in the few hospitals which are not experiencing the same level of pressures, this is due to effective local decision-making, the delivery of capacity and the recruitment of additional consultants. 

“We are in the midst of yet another public hospital crisis and the moral injury caused is extremely damaging at this stage. Increased capacity, physical infrastructure and facilities must be commissioned and funded by the government and HSE urgently to ensure that public hospital services can be maintained and not allowed to deteriorate further,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has criticised the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, for stating that the HSE is to call on senior medical staff, including hospital consultants, to work weekends over the coming weeks.

In a statement, the IMO said that consultants already routinely work well in excess of ‘normal’ hours and also provide on-call services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It claimed that the current issues are due to insufficient capital investment and an inability to recruit and retain adequate staff.

Also commenting on the current issues, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said that its members are treating patients “in the most undignified conditions”.

“Nurses and other healthcare staff cannot continue to weather this storm without adequate support and protection from their employer. We again repeat our call for the current approach of telling people just to avoid hospitals to cease. The focus should be on providing supplemented emergency supports until the end of February,” commented INMO general secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha.