A WEXFORD doctor has described the situation at Wexford General Hospital as 'untenable' after a large number of people once again ended up on in trolleys in the corridor outside the Accident and Emergency Department last week.

Wednesday was the busiest day for the hospital, when a reported 26 people ended up on trolleys outside of A & E, though this had been reduced to 17 by Thursday afternoon according to figures supplied by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

Maudlintown man Noel Flood surveyed the scene for himself last Wednesday after he received a call from his distressed daughter Denise, a Rosslare resident.

'She was left on a trolley all day and night,' said Noel, adding that it was a very upsetting experience for the 25year-old.

'You can't blame the nurses, they have the greatest sympathy for the patients, but it really was desperate there. It's degrading for all the patients who are left out there on trolleys, there's no privacy in the place,' said Noel.

'In this day and age it would madden you,' said the Wexford man, whose daughter was discharged on Thursday.

'Since 2007, 19 beds have been closed in the hospital,' said Fine Gael Senator Dr Liam Twomey, who described the situation at Wexford General as 'untenable'.

'When the Minister and the HSE make decisions to close wards in their Dublin offices, they just look at the statistics and not the people,' said Dr Twomey.

The Rosslare Strand GP pointed out that the patients on trolleys are suffering and said that when he has to send a patient to the hospital, the fact that the patient will be on a trolley is a serious consideration for him.

Dr Twomey said that not only is it extremely difficult for the nurses to provide the nursing care that is needed in this environment, but the patients are not being given the basic rights of dignity and privacy that all patients should be entitled to.

He also noted that it is difficult for patients to sleep with constant movement of staff up and down the busy corridor.

'If the closed St. Catherine's Ward could be reopened to allow patients to use the facilities in this ward, patients would be more comfortable,' said Dr Twomey.

'Importantly, reducing the number of patients treated on trolleys decreases complications,' he said.

'It's ridiculous that even during the Tiger economy years we had these same overcrowding problems and the recession, with the Government's cut in funds to health, has resulted in a worsening of the situation,' said Dr Twomey.

'Rather than always going for the easy option of simply cutting patient beds and services, the Government should look at the actual savings that these measures make.

'In the U.S. it was shown that reducing the number of patients treated on trolleys resulted in a decrease in the overall length of stay for all patients – a real cost saving,' he said.

Fine Gael has urged the Government to 'urgently instruct the HSE to start contracting some of the 1,800 unoccupied nursing home beds to properly accommodate those people in acute hospital beds who need long stay care, among other measures'.

Dr. Twomey said that Fine Gael's Fair Care health policy would result in a 'money-follows-thepatient' budgeting system, so that hospitals are paid for how many patients they treat. Patients will no longer be seen as 'costs' to the health service, but as sources of 'income', he reckons.

- Conor CULLEN