With flu season about to hit full swing it’s alarming to hear there are 200,000 hospital beds lost from delayed discharges.
And these are spaces that will no doubt be needed when serious cases of the illness start emerging.
Figures from the HSE show the number of beds being blocked is on target for a 15% increase since last year.
Health Minister Simon Harris needs to look at what can be done to reduce this damning number.
There is a need for step-down care and home support in order to alleviate these scandalous numbers.
It’s well known there are people currently occupying hospital beds that don’t need to be there, but unfortunately the right resources are not in place to discharge them.
The minister should be pumping funds into services that allow patients to leave hospital when they are ready to do so.
If the right support was there a vast majority of people would be able to cope and recover in the comfort of their own home.
And rather than the situation getting better in time, it has got progressively worse in recent years.
Something drastic needs to be done or lives will be lost as people needing emergency care are left without a bed in our overcrowded hospitals.
