The HSE has been severely criticised for failing to tackle the ongoing issue of inadequate acute hospital bed capacity.

According to the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM), the HSE’s failure in this area continues to cause severe pressure on the country’s Emergency Departments (EDs).

Figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) show that on the morning of August 18, 345 admitted hospital patients were waiting for beds – 296 in EDs and 49 in wards.

The worst affected hospital on that morning was Cork University Hospital, which had 48 admitted patients waiting for beds in its ED.

The IAEM pointed out that over the course of the pandemic, the HSE has shown that it is “capable of enormous effort to set up new services and bring them to a high level of performance”. It pointed to the success of the Covid-19 testing infrastructure and vaccination programmes as examples of this.

“It is regrettable therefore that the perennial problem of inadequate acute bed capacity has not been addressed with the same focus, commitment and determination,” it said.

Overcrowded EDs can have major consequences for patients and staff, including poorer outcomes and an increased risk of transmission of infectious diseases.

Furthermore, the IAEM insisted that lately, the HSE has been focusing “almost exclusively on the undoubted successes of the Covid-19 vaccination programme to the exclusion of any commentary on, or attempt to address, the underlying systemic issues” that are apparent within the health service.

“EDs, and the doctors, nurses and wider team who staff these units, cannot continue to face unrelenting pressure because of a persistent failure of the HSE, Department of Health and Ireland’s political leadership to address systemic problems, which have been identified for over a decade,” the association said.

It added that the problems in the health service, which have remained unaddressed for some time, “will still be there after the Covid-19 pandemic fades from memory”.