A man sent to hospital because hostel staff feared he was dying was returned in a taxi and died the next morning, according to sources.
The man, in his sixties, was sent to St James's Hospital, Dublin, last Saturday. He was returned eight hours later in a taxi and died the next morning, the sources say.
A spokesman for St James's said the hospital could not comment on an individual case as this would breach confidentiality.
The man, understood to be a retired professional, had been living in the Iveagh Hostel and had been in failing health for some time, sources said. Staff called an ambulance for him on Saturday morning and he was taken to St James's at 11.15.
The hospital returned him to the hostel in a taxi at 7 p.m. He was brought to his room in a wheelchair. Staff called for an ambulance again in the morning. He died before the ambulance arrived.
Staff at the hostel yesterday declined to discuss the case.
Nurse Alice Leahy, director of Trust, which provides a medical and social service to homeless people and hostel dwellers from premises at the basement of the Iveagh, said that there were very serious questions to be asked about the quality of health services for vulnerable people.
She said Trust regularly got telephone calls from hospitals looking for accommodation for people who, in her opinion, were not fit to be discharged into hostels.
The St James's spokesman said there was no question of people living in hostels getting a lesser service.
Discussions on the future of Peamount Hospital are expected to resume when the new board of Comhairle na nOspideal is appointed by the Minister for Health and Children. Peamount, at Newcastle, Co Dublin, is best known for treating TB patients but also treats people with respiratory problems and lung cancer.
Last year Comhairle na nOspideal recommended that no more acute patients be sent to Peamount on the basis that TB should be treated in general hospitals.
Peamount argues that its expertise should not be dispensed with and that the general hospitals may not have the resources to take over the task.
The outgoing comhairle ended its term of office in December and its replacement has not yet been appointed.
Hospital Watch appears every Tuesday.
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