Mater and Beaumont are the worst, writes PAUL CULLEN, Health Correspondent
WAITING TIMES in hospital emergency departments exceed the Government’s nine-hour target for four out of 10 patients, according to new HSE figures.
The worst-performing hospitals were the Mater and Beaumont in Dublin, where only 16.6 per cent and 14.8 per cent of patients were admitted within nine-hours of registering at the department. No hospital reached the target of admitting all patients within this time, though St Luke’s, Kilkenny, Kerry General Hospital, Letterkenny, Portiuncula and St John’s Hospital in Limerick all scored over 90 per cent.
A separate Government target aims to discharge or admit 95 per cent of people who attend emergency departments within six hours. However, this was met for only 68 per cent of patients in May, according to the HSE performance report for that month.
By the end of September, the Government says no adult will have to wait longer than nine months for an elective procedure. The figures show that the backlog is dropping, but there are still 2,923 patients who have been waiting longer than this time. A 20-week maximum waiting period will apply to elective procedures for children, but currently one-third of children have been waiting longer than the target period.
More than 340,000 people are waiting for an outpatient appointment, of whom one-third have been waiting for over a year, the figures show.
Absenteeism, while marginally down on last year, is running at over 40 per cent above the target level. It currently stands at 5 per cent, well above the target of 3.5 per cent.
The report says there has been a significant deterioration in the HSE’s overall financial position reflecting the need for “urgent remedial action”.
The biggest single element in the €282 million over-run is the €65 million deficit on the primary care reimbursement scheme, or payments to doctors, pharmacists and dentists. Most of this relates to extra spending on drugs, largely arising from the fact that an extra 111,000 people are eligible for support so far this year.
It’s similar in the hospital sector, where a €133 million deficit is due to higher than planned levels of activity. The report singles out eight hospitals which it says have problems requiring aggressive cost containment as well as “additional remedial actions”. These are Limerick Regional Hospital, where the deficit is €10 million, Galway University Hospital (€8.6 million), Beaumont (€11 million), Tallaght (€7.5 million), Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda (€7 million), St Vincent’s University Hospital (€6.4 million), the Mater (€5.4 million) and Cork University Hospital (€6.6 million).
The pension deficit of €46 million is attributed to the greater than forecast number of departures under the Government’s accelerated early retirement scheme earlier this year.
The report says the HSE’s reliance on agency staff continues at an unaffordable level. Almost 700 beds were reported closed at the end of May, while 670 people had completed their acute phase of care and were medically fit for discharge.