Sir, – It is a commonly held belief that emergency departments (EDs) are crowded with inappropriate attendances, "minor" injuries and "simple fractures". This is not the case. As Dr Peter Viccellio and Dr Eugene Litvak write ("How a seven-day week approach can transform hospitals", Opinion & Analysis, April 8th), EDs are principally crowded with patients who are admitted to the hospital with a medical complaint (stroke, pneumonia, heart attack), but for which there is no ward bed available.
Diverting “inappropriate” ED attendances to other services has been tried extensively in the UK, which has a similar health system to ours. It hasn’t worked. ED attendances will continue to rise here and globally. Our efforts are best spent in managing these attendances effectively (such as operating a full service seven days a week) rather than attempting to divert them elsewhere. – Yours, etc,
Dr DAVID MENZIES,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.