Tallaght Hospital deployed its full capacity protocol 112 times since January

By Mary Dennehy

TALLAGHT Hospital has been under “severe pressure” 35 per cent of the time in 2016, with figures released revealing that the local health facility was full to capacity 112 times since the start of the year.

Figures released by the HSE, show that Tallaght Hospital, which has one of the largest catchment areas in the country, deployed its Full Capacity Protocol (FCP) 112 times between January 1 and November 16 of this year.

This is the second highest number of times the protocol was deployed in a Dublin Hospital, with Beaumont deploying FCP 184 times, Connolly 63 times, St Vincent’s 20, Mater 14 and St James’s seven.

The highest in the country is Tullamore Hospital which was full to capacity 230 times since the start of the year.

According to the HSE, The Full Capacity Protocol is designed to “ensure that all hospital systems and processes are organised in a controlled and planned manner to address the increased demand, ensure safe patient care and return to steady state as soon as possible”.

On reading the figures, Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Sean Crowe said: “Tallaght Hospital has been operating under severe bed pressure or full capacity for 35 per cent of the time since January.

“Full capacity was supposedly an emergency measure that has become an everyday measure right across the hospital system.

“This basically means that all elective surgeries proposed for the day are cancelled; and patients are put back again on a waiting list for their life-changing operations because a bed is not available in the hospital.

“Full capacity means additional beds being put on wards with health and safety inevitably suffering and the added danger of cross infection, with attention to detail more likely to be overlooked by hard-pressed staff.

“Full bed capacity means that there is additional pressure on staff to discharge patients to try and free up beds.

“It could mean patients being sent home earlier, even if they are not ready.”

He added: “This week it also emerged that the Task Force established to investigate and respond to the bed shortage crisis had only met twice in the last year.

“This is unbelievable, unacceptable and needs to be addressed with urgency by the Health Minister Simon Harris and the HSE before the winter demand kicks in.”

When contacted by The Echo, Tallaght Hospital said that a number of measures introduced has seen a decrease in the number of cancelled elective procedures at Tallaght Hospital from 17 per cent to nine per cent in the past year.

The hospital said: “Tallaght Hospital acknowledges and shares the frustration of patients on occasions when elective procedures have to be rescheduled due to high levels of unscheduled admissions through the Emergency Department, therefore the hospital is mindful of peak periods when planning elective procedures.

“Beds are allocated based on clinical need and it is regrettable that when emergencies arise and at times of full capacity, patients with less urgent needs can experience delays in being allocated beds.”