The 1.6 million people who live in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow have only 800 beds available to them for planned treatment, according to an internal Eastern Regional Health Authority report.
Another 400 beds are taken up by people from outside the region who could be treated in their own areas but think they can get better treatment in the east, says the unpublished report, seen by The Irish Times.
For example, the report says, many of those on the waiting list for hip replacements in Dublin hospitals are from outside the region and could have the procedure done much more quickly in their local hospitals.
The report says there is little likelihood of a change in this trend and that to meet the demands from inside and outside the ERHA area, the eastern region should have up to two thirds of the State's acute beds instead of the 41 per cent it has at present. It should also have up to two thirds of consultants and other staff instead of the 48 per cent it has now.
Waiting times of four to six hours for minor injury cases are all too common at the MidWestern Regional Hospital in Limerick, its general manager, Mr John Hennessy, has acknowledged. Matters should improve this summer when the Regional and St John's Hospital introduce an expanded "walk-in" service for people with minor injuries at St John's in the inner city. The Regional is also to get more emergency consultants from August. Mr Hennessy was responding to a complaint e-mailed to Hospital Watch by Mr Jim Harmon. Mr Harmon was given a note by his GP to go to the Regional's emergency department with his six-year-old son who was suffering from a suspected collarbone break.
They arrived at 5 p.m. and were seen by the triage nurse who prioritises cases by clinical need. The nurse put a sling on the child's arm and they waited to see a doctor. It was 10.05 p.m. before they were seen and they finally left the hospital shortly after 11 p.m. "Hospital management is very much aware of the frustration felt by patients and relatives who often have to wait for long periods for treatment," said Mr Hennessy. "We are determined to deliver substantial improvements over the coming months."
People in the Mid-West get less help towards nursing home fees than anywhere else in the State, according to figures supplied to Mr Richard Bruton TD by the Minister for Health and Children. The average grant was £103.75 a week compared with £145 in the South-East, which provides the highest level of grant in the State. The figures for other health regions are: North-West, £113.56; East, £122.66; Midlands, £131.31; North-East, £131.49; South, £131.20; and West, £132.99.
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