Northside patients won’t cross Liffey for empty hospital beds

Up to one-quarter of the beds in the newly reopened Mount Carmel community hospital in south Dublin lay empty last week because of a reluctance of northside patients to cross the Liffey and occupy them.

The beds, which are fully staffed, were reserved for patients due for discharge from hospitals in north Dublin, where a severe shortage of stepdown facilities exists.

However, 15 convalescent beds at Mount Carmel could not be filled because patients were unwilling to transfer to a facility on the southside, according to sources. The hospital is located in Churchtown, 5km south of the city centre and away from Luas or Dart links.

Short term stays

A stay in Mount Carmel is envisaged as short term, pending the putting in place of home supports or long-term nursing home care.

The average length of stay in the hospital so far is 24 days and three-quarters of patients have moved home afterwards.

Delays in discharging well patients from hospitals have contributed to serious overcrowding this year in emergency departments, where hundreds of patients lie on trolleys every night because no bed is available for them.

On a number of days last week, while the Mount Carmel beds lay unused, 50 patients were on trolleys in the emergency department of Beaumont Hospital in north Dublin.

Transitional care

Mount Carmel, which was officially reopened by Minister of State at the Department of Health Kathleen Lynch on Thursday, provides transitional care and short-stay support beds, along with access to services such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

Overall, 35 of the 65 beds were being used on Thursday.

The former private hospital at Mount Carmel was bought by the HSE for €11 million last year and opened on a phased basis from last April.

The HSE is hoping to acquire similar premises on the northside of the city to tackle the lack of stepdown facilities for older patients there.