A woman has spent eight days on a trolley in the A&E unit of a Dublin hospital waiting for a bed. Tallaght Hospital confirmed last night that a patient had been in A&E for eight days, but said she was receiving all necessary treatment.
Bernadette Higgins (43) from Clondalkin, told The Irish Times she came to the hospital's A&E unit last Wednesday following treatment in the warfarin clinic but still did not know when a bed would be available.
She has a clot on her lung and is waiting for treatment.
"It's awful in there. The trolleys are end to end. There isn't room to swing a cat," she said. "If one trolley moves they all move and there's only two toilets for all the people."
The mother of four said it was difficult to get access to painkillers and there was no hope of privacy or confidentiality when talking to a doctor.
"The staff are great, they're bending over backwards to accommodate people but they can only do so much. I was told today I wouldn't get a bed. There isn't one to be got."
Alison Devine, another patient at A&E in Tallaght, is also expecting a long wait.
She has been on a trolley at the hospital since last Friday waiting for an endoscopy and does not know when she will have a bed.
"They're telling me I could be here until Friday anyway and they can't do anything for me until they find me a bed," she said.
"No one should be on a trolley that long. I think the Tánaiste should go."
A spokeswoman for the hospital said beds were allocated on the basis of medical and clinical need.
"We regret the fact that patients are delayed in A&E and we are making every effort to alleviate the problem," she said.
She added that the hospital had gone to tender for a transitional suite, which it hoped it could provide soon.
Michael Lyons, the hospital's chief executive officer, said the hospital urgently needed an acute medical assessment unit. One was promised to the hospital some time ago.
Ms Higgins's predicament was highlighted by the patient's local Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe who said she had a clot and serious heart problems.
Mr Crowe said it was appalling a patient could spend so long on a trolley and claimed the situation in A&E departments now was as bad if not worse, than this time last year.
His comments came as the Irish Nurses Organisation claimed there were more than 400 patients on trolleys in A&E units across the State yesterday.
The INO claimed there were 406 patients on trolleys yesterday, including 48 at Tallaght Hospital, 31 at Beaumont, 32 at Naas General, 30 at Wexford General, 25 at Cavan General and 22 at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda.
The Health Service Executive claimed the numbers on trolleys last evening was down to 306.
It said this was 53 less than the day before.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said fewer patients had been discharged in recent days and she did not know why this was so. She had asked for an explanation from the HSE.
She also insisted progress was being made on the A&E problem.