‘I would have been better off in prison,’ says 86 year old woman who spent 30 hours waiting for hospital admission

Therese O’Mahony (86), a retired nurse who served for 43 years in Shanakiel and Our Lady’s Hospitals in Cork, compares her 30 hour wait in Cork University Hospital’s emergency department in February to prison, one she will never repeat.

The pensioner suffers from macular degeneration in both eyes and has two artificial knees. She went to CUH’s emergency department in February believing she had pulled a muscle. In fact, she had broken three ribs. Though her eyesight is extremely poor, she was not allowed to have her nephew stay with her.

“I had nobody to even talk to about what was going on. The physiotherapist was very good, but I kept being told one team would take over from another. I was in that chair the whole time. The only time I got out of (it) was for an ECG and an X-Ray. The hours kept going by. I eventually got sandwiches and tea. That was my meal for the day.

“There was nowhere to put the tea and sandwiches. I could only have one in my hands. I had broken ribs and I couldn’t bend down to the floor to pick the water up. And no table to put it on. It is very difficult to stretch in a sitting position with three broken ribs,” she went on.

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Because she severe arthritis, Ms O’Mahony said she has a high tolerance for pain: “I am used to (it). At one stage a nurse said she had a place for me where I could lie down, but I never saw her again.” Concerned that she would become dehydrated, she eventually got a bottle of water.

On her second day, she became more upset because she had been awake all night with the noise of crying children. Eventually, she said she would stay no longer.

“Three doctors came around at eleven in the morning. I didn’t let them open their mouths. I said I would be going home because I would have been better off in prison the night before.

“When I first went in I was told I was staying, but I could have been another two days waiting for a bed. I waited six solid hours to get that prescription. Thirty hours, overall. I doubt any bed was ever going to come. The physiotherapist was lovely and gave me breathing exercises. But the basic care wasn’t there.

“I didn’t need a surgeon to come down (to) give me tea and toast. Looking for water during the night was something else. I got it at about 2am, and it was practically thrown at me,” she said, adding, “If anything happened to me on the street I would prefer if someone threw an eiderdown on me and let me die than go through all that again.”

Asked about Ms O’Mahony’s experience Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said it was “not even remotely acceptable” but said he was preparing a plan for all Emergency Departments, which would identify their individual needs so that excessive waiting periods become a thing of the past, particularly for elderly patients.

“It is never acceptable that anyone would be waiting those times, the targets are about six hours, and the Mercy and CUH are hitting that about half the time for about half the patients but for some of the older people, the people who need to be seen quicker – the waiting times are longer.

Mr Donnelly said he had visited the Mercy University Hospital on Thursday and saw the excellent work that staff were doing there in the Emergency Department, but he conceded they were understaffed and funding has been approved for additional consultants in emergency medicine.

“We had a very robust conversation about the EDs. In the Mercy right now, there is less than one Whole Time Equivalent Emergency Medicine Consultant sanctioned which is an issue - there are now an additional three that have been sanctioned and that’s going to make a big difference.

“I met the Mercy team yesterday to say `tell me what you need to make sure that the patients get seen, they get assessed they get triaged and then they get discharged critically or admitted’. I’m going from here to CUH and we’re going to be having exactly the same conversation.”

Speaking after a visit to the Community Healthcare Integrated Care Hub for older people based at St. Finbarr’s Health Campus in Cork city, Mr Donnelly said that he has also met with staff in Emergency Departments in Limerick, Sligo and Galway as well as other hospitals.

“I’ve met with the HSE and said what I want is a plan going into the future, obviously looking at next winter but it has to work right into the future, saying we need to go hospital by hospital, emergency department by emergency department, identify what the gaps are because they are different.

“The problems in the Mercy are different to the CUH are different to the problems in Limerick - we need to understand exactly what it is; in one place it is workforce, in another place it’s beds, in another place it’s late discharge of care, and put together an action plan, ED by ED.

“Politically, the government is clear, the department is clear and the HSE is clear that what we have seen terms of people waiting, particularly the type of cases you are talking about, are unacceptable and we have to act and do tangible real things to get people flowing through the hospital system.”

Large numbers of pensioners in Cork City are now too afraid to go to the city’s hospital emergency departments for treatment because of fears they will spend unacceptably long hours waiting for admission, a leading campaigner, Paddy O’Brien has warned.

Data from the HSE, provided in reply to questions from Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane, shows that 75-year-olds are waiting on average 14 hours for admissions, but up to 29 hours in Cork University Hospital and the Mercy Hospital.

Responding, the South/South West Hospital Group said ED waiting times in Cork are affected by the numbers of patients appearing, the need to care for those with life threatening diseases, the sickest of the rest, and the oldest patients: “Inevitably this will cause delays for patients who will need to wait longer,” said a spokesperson.

Both CUH and the Mercy are seeing larger numbers of ED patients: “Locally, both hospital and community services are working in an integrated approach to improve the flow of patients across the system, paramount to same is the safe discharge of patients who have ongoing care needs,” said the spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive told The Irish Times that the numbers of over-75s seeking treatment has increased significantly this year, with many of them having complex care needs that require admission to hospital for further treatment.

Saying he was “appalled” by Ms O’Mahony’s treatment, Mr O’Brien said: “(Older people) are saying ‘I don’t want to go to CUH. Just give me medication.’ (She) told me that she informed her nephews and nieces that if she ever gets sick again not to bring her to CUH.”

Paddy O’Brien, who has campaigned for older people in Cork City for decades, said: “I have to say I don’t hear of long waiting times in the Mercy Hospital. It is normally CUH. The staff are all good in both hospitals. There just aren’t enough of them, or enough beds.

“Waiting that long has an awful effect. When a problem reoccurs they just refuse to go back. It is totally unacceptable. Elderly people have worked so hard. Many have scrimped and have not had a good salary. But they paid their taxes. They don’t want special treatment. All they want is basic care,” Mr O’Brien said.