2 January 2025, 16:11 GMT
Emergency departments (EDs) in Northern Ireland are at breaking point, a medic has said.
The deputy chair of the British Medical Association in Northern
Ireland, Dr Clodagh Corrigan, has been working in EDs for the last 14
years.
She told BBC News NI this winter had been very stressful and pressure
had not "let off".
Figures from New Year's Eve show that more than half of the 892 people
who attended emergency departments had to endure a wait of more than
12 hours.
Dr Corrigan said the impact of winter pressures has filled staff with
fear for the weeks ahead.
The Department for Health said there was "a serious mismatch between
current capacity and demand for care."
'It is scary'
Emergency Waiting Times
- 892 patients in EDs
- More than half waiting +12 hours
Source: HSCNI
"We say it every year but it's never been as bad, morale has never
been as low in the departments I've worked in, in my entire career,"
Dr Corrigan said.
Almost 400 people were waiting for a hospital bed in Northern Ireland
last week.
Flu and respiratory infections have been affecting many people with
some requiring hospital treatment.
Dr Corrigan said: "We have seen a huge increase in flu patients. In my
own department we had 11 or 12 flu positive patients waiting on the
ward which leaves us very tight because, if you have flu, we can't
move you to make space for other patients."
She said she expected a spike in flu and Covid-19.
Dr Corrigan explained that the lack of flow throughout hospitals is
having a big impact on emergency departments.
'Where am I going to see my next patient?'
She said the pressure was "building" and morale was at an "all time
low".
"The pressure just hasn't let off, we have seen what we would call
winter pressure numbers in the summer but now we have seen that
doubling. There has been no respite this year," she added.
"When we come onto shift multiple ambulances are parked, usually
police cars, a full waiting room, people standing, no space," she
said.
"The challenge is – where am I going to see my next patient?
Dr Corrigan said doctors were anticipating the situation over the next
few weeks getting worse.
"I don't know how the system will cope. We are at breaking point and I
don't see how we can get out of it," she said.
"It is scary and it is worrying, it makes going into work everyday
difficult."
The Department for Health reiterated its apology to all patients
waiting longer than they should and said "services remain under
intense pressure" across Northern Ireland.
The department also said: "longer term solutions require sustained
reform and investment to increase capacity and improve services".
"Neighbouring health services are facing similar pressures," it
continued.
You can listen to Dr Corrigan's interview on Evening Extra.
Orginal article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3rq0yqlzv3o
by clojrinauo
15 comments
Again? I mean, I’m not denying it could happen. But it’s hardly “news” at this point.
Every year we hear the same thing and yet nothing is being done. I really feel it for the staff. The NHS is a broken concept IMHO. It just doesn’t work in the current format.
This is a tiny place. How can we justify five health and social care trusts?
Poor woman looks like she’s running on 2 hours sleep a night
The parties have let this slide for too long. The DUP strategy is not to fund it because it would have to treat everyone who uses it and that includes themuns.
SF plan. Cure for cancer. Gold from the tap. Personal doctor for you 24/7 who will also be hot. One catch. Only after a UI.
Don’t lose the NHS. Fund and staff it for we need it and always will.
Doctors….are they not the circuit breaker to ease the a&e pressure?Where are they? Are patients not being given a say 3 times stupid call and your out ?I know a family that totally frustrates me that goes to a&e and wastes their time over silly issues that are neither accidents nor emergencies. It bugs the hell out of me .
We’re funding this at a rate of £6,000 per second. The amount of wasted money must be in the billions.
Don’t forget sports fans the HSCNI, is the single greatest and most frequently exclaimed “benefit” of the UK union by unionists…..In the words of Zack De La Rocha Wake up. Underpaid, underfunded and one of the few western nations with decreasing life expectancy rates.
Same south of border. The sad truth here is that after the most appalling death in A&E in Limerick the outgoing govt was returned. No FFG Limerick TD lost their seat. Only a Green in the general green wipeout. We vote for it. We want it.
And how many of these people show up at A&E because they can’t see a local GP cause they missed the window during the morning lottery
This is what happens when the government uses tax to provide everyone who claims to be a refugee with whatever and also on extra street signs in a different language and fuck knows what other wastages that we don’t need instead of sorting their own house out first in an attempt to make people go to private health care as it is a money making machine.
It’s the greedy lazy bastard doctors and nurses who are to blame
Chronically understaffed a&e deposit filled with burnt out healthcare workers means more things are missed, more mistakes are made, more people are inappropriately discharged because there simply isn’t the beds and more people die or are left with life changing consequences as a result.
This should be top of the priority list. If H5N1 starts doing the rounds here too, we are so fucked. It’s already killed a few humans in the states (as well as plenty of livestock and the residents of a wild cat sanctuary).
Take your vitamins, lads. The NHS is beyond repair.
Got hired in Summer to work for Northern Trust.
In early November they sent me to 2 days epic encompass software training (show you the GUI and that’s about it)
Then the manager who works from home the whole time emails me to say no more work and job role is redundant due to new software they’ve just trained me on.
Still unemployed, waiting on an agency to respond and waiting on any response from the several HS jobs I’ve applied for.
Its stupid and it’s bad management.
I want to work. Why take my job away for 2 months and now yapping about needing more staff.
Make the managers go to the sites and manage.
I’ve heard this a million times before. And sometimes experienced it, yet no one is doing a thing about it. A functioning health care system should be what any country strives for. The whole “phone your doctors office between 9am and 9:05am to be in which a chance of getting a phone call back” shows how low we’re all happy to go.
Comments are closed.