AIDAN P. GLEESON FRCSI,
Sir, - As an Accident & Emergency consultant at Beaumont Hospital, I think it only right that I comment on the recent article by Joyce Reilly (An Irishwoman's Diary, January 28th). Whilst accepting some of her criticisms, I found the article, as a whole, unfair. In particular, her description of the reception area was particularly scathing.
I must apologise on behalf of this hospital for not being able to provide reception facilities akin to the Blackrock Clinic. The fact that our reception area has recently been refurbished, is clean, is brightly decorated, has a fully functioning television, has a digital information screen for patients, has clean working seats and is warm, seems to have passed beyond the senses of Ms Reilly. To liken this area to a scene from Kabul and our patients to battered Taliban prisoners is nothing short of insulting.
I can accept that there may have been a shortage of chairs on the particular day that she attended. However, the likelihood is that a significant number of the bottoms that occupied these seats did not belong to patients but to friends and relatives. It is indeed unfortunate that someone with the same charitable disposition as Ms Reilly did not offer her a seat.
It would be ideal to have medical, nursing or paramedical staff scanning the waiting room on a 24- hour basis looking for patients who might be in need of assistance. However, we do not have such resources at our disposal. If a patient needs help, then it is expected that they, or a relative, go direct to the reception desk ahead of the queue or to the Triage nurse who is regularly in and out of the reception room. Quite why Ms Reilly did not take such action is unclear.
My only real regret is that Ms Reilly did not have an opportunity to see the true reason why she had to wait several hours for medical attention, why the waiting room was overflowing and why staff were not readily available to attend to her immediate needs. The reason is, of course, that the staff were working flat out in the main body of the department looking after scores of admitted patients on trolleys, which is the case with most Dublin teaching hospital A&Es.
It is a regular occurrence for this department to have scores of patients, many of whom are elderly and infirm, waiting days for a ward bed. We have no additional resources to deal with this extra workload and are expected to deliver good medical and nursing care in an environment where there is no privacy or dignity for patients.
Ms Reilly might be surprised to know that our staff, whom she implies are insensitive and uncaring, feel deep anger and upset over this. She will be pleased to know that Micheál Martin witnessed the carnage at Beaumont nine months ago but, despite this, no effective measures have been introduced to alleviate the pain and suffering of patients and staff here.
In spite of this, we maintain our resolve and, now and again, we do a good job. Believe it or not, there are occasions when patients are seen quickly, have a full medical assessment, blood tests and X-rays and go home happy with medication in their pockets. Now that's not bad for €31.70, is it? - Yours, etc.,
AIDAN P. GLEESON FRCSI, FRCS, Ed (A&E), DA (UK), FFAEM, Consultant in A & E Medicine, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9.