Health

Elaine Byrne: The facts don’t lie when it comes to weekend discharges in our hospitals

Consultants say they are on call 24/7, yet we continue to see patients unnecessarily occupying beds because nobody is around to discharge them

Backlog: Just 8 per cent of patient discharges from hospital occur at the weekend, according to the HSE

The number of admitted patients waiting for a hospital bed hit a new record of 931 people last Tuesday, the day after the bank holiday Monday, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

The organisation’s Trolley Watch count noted that the second-highest day on record was last Wednesday, with 838. The previous record was 760 on Monday, December 19, 2022. This equalled the 760 trolley count recorded on Monday January 6, 2020.

Congestion ...