Hospital queues: Significant numbers of patients who require rehabilitation following accidents or serious illnesses are having to wait between six months and two years for beds at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, new figures show.
A small number of patients are waiting to be admitted to the hospital for up to three years.
The latest figures, released by the Health Service Executive (HSE), indicate 245 patients were awaiting admission to the hospital at the end of March. These included six children.
Some 79 patients were waiting up to three months for admission, 49 patients were waiting up to six months, 63 were waiting up to a year, 47 were waiting up to two years, six were waiting up to three years, and one patient was waiting for admission for more than three years.
The majority of the patients were awaiting rehabilitation as a result of brain injury, spinal injury or stroke.
The HSE said patients waiting for admission for over a year were usually extremely dependent and were awaiting access to high-dependency services. "Due to the complexity of cases seen by these services, it is not uncommon to have lengths of stay for periods beyond six-12 months for individual patients, hence bed turnover can be low," it said.
"Patients are entered on to a waiting list for admission once they are assessed as being suitable for rehabilitation. However, they may have some other medical conditions which make it impossible for them to be available and ready for rehabilitation once a bed has been offered.
"Accordingly, some of the patients on a waiting list for periods in excess of one year have been offered a rehabilitation bed, but have not been able to accept same due to their unavailability as they have to be in another healthcare facility receiving treatment for another illness or disease or having further acute medical or surgical treatments," it added.
The HSE also said there were plans to increase the number of beds in the National Rehabilitation Hospital from 120 to 235. Subject to funding being made available, it was expected to commence building work on site in late 2007 or early 2008, it said.
Furthermore, it said there were plans for a 25-bed acute medical rehabilitation unit at Beaumont Hospital.
The information was provided to Fine Gael senator Fergal Browne in response to a Dáil question. He said, yesterday, it was crazy to expect people to wait between six months and three years for beds in the hospital. "The danger is it would impede their recovery," he said.
He also questioned why the extension to the hospital could not be fast-tracked. "There is a huge need for it. And having just one facility for the whole country is inadequate. We also need back-up facilities around the country," he said.
The lack of rehabilitation beds in the State was highlighted by a firm of UK healthcare consultants earlier this year when they audited practices in 10 hospitals across the country to try to establish what was causing A&E overcrowding.
The consultants, Tribal Secta, said underprovision of health services in the non-acute sectors, including rehabilitation, was contributing to the situation in A&E.
It said: "The care of the young chronic sick would appear to be a national issue given the current situation of a single national institution for rehabilitation.
"Many young chronic patients requiring long-term specialist rehabilitation beds have to avail of this service in Dublin, as there are few if any of these beds elsewhere in the State and often these beds have long waiting lists."
It said Cork University Hospital reported six- to eight-month waits for beds in Dún Laoghaire.
"This causes problems for the patient accessing timely rehabilitation and also for their families, who often have to travel long distances to visit," the report said.
