CALLS have been made for an urgent summit of political leaders and health officials in Northern Ireland over a deepening crisis in hospitals.
Following several high-profile incidents in recent days, the Northern Trust reported yesterday that the emergency departments in Antrim Area and Causeway Hospitals were under “extreme pressure.”
At the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast a woman in her 70s died on a trolley while waiting to be admitted.
Antrim Area Hospital’s A&E closed its doors on Saturday as it had become “unsafe” to take new admissions, while on Monday extreme pressures were reported at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald and severe pressures in the Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
The SDLP’s health spokesperson Colin McGrath has now written to the head of the civil service and the permanent secretary of the Department of Health, calling for an urgent summit.
“The situation facing patients and their care providers in emergency departments right now is bleak,” he said.
“I have seen our health service staff move heaven and earth to provide the best possible care for people but the hard truth is that patients are not receiving the level of service that they should.”
He added that doctors, nurses and other staff were “working themselves to exhaustion” and said the only solution was the restoration of devolved government.
“The DUP, who continue to put their own political considerations above the urgent need to fix our health service should explain themselves to the people waiting for admission in communities across the North. It’s time for politicians to get back to work now,” he said.
On Monday, the Department of Health said it remained "deeply concerned" about the situation in hospitals and across the health and social care system.
Although a plan to mitigate winter pressures is in place, the department said there was "a serious mismatch" between demand for care and the capacity to provide it.
Speaking to the BBC, Ulster Hosptial consultant Sean McGovern said yesterday that a lack of care packages in the community was preventing the flow of patients through hospitals.
“Many patients want to live their last days of life at home but cannot do so, they end up in a hospital scenario,” he said.
Meanwhile, a ballot on industrial action for NHS workers in the Unison trade union will close on Friday.
Around 350,000 NHS employees working in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being asked to vote for strike action over pay.
In a statement, the union said the “worrying developments” in recent days had shown the harsh reality facing many nursing and healthcare staff caught between “the frontline and the breadline.”
In the absence of a Stormont Executive, the union added: “We can expect disruption across the whole health service from early next month.”
Members of the Royal College of Nursing across the UK voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action last week,but have pledged not to endanger patient safety.
