Tallaght Hospital has said it is setting up an internal review into how patient information was disclosed to the national media on a patient who spent 29 hours on a trolley on Monday.
The hospital said it is doing this arising from concerns expressed by an elderly patient to senior management about the circumstances surrounding the disclosure and characterisation of certain confidential information.
Tallaght Hospital said the patient in question has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the manner in which his personal clinical circumstances have been revealed and elements of his care misrepresented in media and other public channels over the past 24 hours.
It said the patient, who suffers from a chronic condition requiring regular attendance at the hospital, has expressed his appreciation for the standard of treatment received throughout all his periods of care at the hospital.
The hospital says that it apologises that the patient in question was subject to an unacceptable delay prior to being transferred to a ward bed on Monday.
It said it also has a strong duty of care to safeguard the interests of all its patients and will take necessary steps to ensure these are upheld at all times.
Earlier today, an emergency department consultant at the hospital said that conditions there amount to "torture" after a 91-year-old man spent 29 hours on a trolley, while his wife was also on a trolley for nine hours.
Dr James Gray has written to the chief executive of the hospital claiming there are "grave and dangerous governance failures" continuing at the hospital which are inhumane and a violation of basic human rights.
In his letter to the hospital CEO, Dr Gray said that the male patient had no privacy, no dignity, was subject to constant noise torture and constant light torture, resulting in major sleep deprivation.
"This elderly man is an example of how a dysfunctional system disgracefully treats some of our senior citizens, among the most vulnerable in our society, being allowed to fester on a trolley," the email by Dr Gray says.
He said that the man, who has advanced Parkinson's disease, told him how painful and sore he was from lying on the trolley.
His wife of 59 years also had to endure the discomfort of lying on a trolley for a lengthy period. Both patients were eventually admitted to the hospital and remain there.
Dr Gray said that the conditions for patients on trolleys also constitute an infection control hazard.
In June, there was controversy when a 101-year-old woman spent 26 hours on a trolley at Tallaght Hospital.
"We all remember the disgrace of having a 101-year-old lady on a trolley earlier this year and we were told lessons would be learned to avoid a recurrence of frail, elderly, vulnerable patients being allowed to board in the ED beyond an absolute maximum time," Dr Gray said.
Trolley problem 'escalating'
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Dr Gray said problems in emergency departments are increasing year on year, that the trolley problem is escalating and that staffing is at crisis level.
Dr Gray said that beds promised by the emergency department taskforce were needed now but that opening those beds without adequate staffing would be impossible.
"Staffing is at crisis level, not just on the nursing side but also the medical side. We can't recruit because the conditions are so poor and it's a vicious circle.
"So not only do the beds need to come on stream, the staff need to come on stream as well and I don't see this happening any time soon.
"This is going to be a great difficulty for the taskforce to have these beds open at all by Christmas."
He said beds on their own will not solve the problem but that in order for the beds to alleviate the problem they need to be opened now and not in a few weeks.
He called for the activation of the full capacity protocol which he said would ease problems immediately.
Dr Gray said the 91-year-old who spent a day and a half on a trolley earlier this week was left in dangerous and unsuitable conditions on a trolley in an internal corridor.
"This patient was subjected to constant light, constant noise, very poor sleep as a result. No dignity, no privacy and no confidentiality would have been negligible.
"He would have constituted an infection control risk because clearly he was in an area he shouldn't. He would also have been a fire evacuation risk."
In the statement this afternoon, Tallaght Hospital said it "cannot comment on individual patient cases due to patient confidentiality, however, we are aware of a delay in admitting elderly patients this week for which we unreservedly apologise".
It said: "Delays are currently under review by management and while the delays are undesirable there were no critical or clinical incidents reported in the Emergency Department this week arising from delays in allocating ward beds".
It added: "The hospital has a policy of prioritising the allocation of ward beds for elderly patients and is currently implementing a number of initiatives to improve patient flow processes through providing more inpatient beds funded under the HSE winter initiative, developing its Frail Elderly Initiative and completing the €5 million upgrade of the emergency department."
'Don't be putting on a show for the television!' Angry scenes in Dáil after 91-year-old spends 29 hours on trolley. https://t.co/RGdGa28GDe
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 4, 2015
The statement came after the Taoiseach called on Tallaght Hospital for a response.
Enda Kenny said he was not "passing the buck", however he said he wanted to know who was the person responsible for leaving that the elderly man on a trolley.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the situation in emergency departments is "chaotic and out of control", and asked the Taoiseach what was going to be done about the worsening situation.
Responding, Mr Kenny said he did not understand how such a thing could happen to a 91-year-old.
He said it was up to everyone in the health service to play their part, and said there are more beds, that delayed discharges have been reduced, and more staff have been hired.
He said it was up to staff to work to their ability to ensure the plan works.
"Surely someone needs to make a decision in relation to priority to leave a man on a trolley for 29 hours", he said.
Mr Kenny also predicted that more "shocking" cases would be brought to light over the coming weeks.
He said he agreed with the consultant who highlighted the matter.
However, the Irish Medical Organisation has criticised Mr Kenny's remarks about what was being done to tackle the emergency department crisis.
IMO President Ray Walley said Mr Kenny’s remarks displayed a lack of appreciation as to the real problems.
He said the crisis in our emergency departments is being represented as a problem in one department "when in fact the problem is a system-wide problem that requires a system-wide response."
He said the Government has "undermined our health services through draconian cuts and the consequences of those decisions are now coming to pass."
Dr Walley added that the health service has experienced increased demand, reduced services and insufficient numbers of staff.
There were 439 patients on trolleys in emergency departments or on wards today waiting for admission to a bed.
According to the INMO figures, the hospital's worst affected are St Vincent's with 35; Tallaght, 34 and University Hospital Limerick, 34.
