More weekend hospital discharges needed

Galway University Hospitals aren’t discharging enough patients on the weekends leading to a higher number of patients on trolleys on a Monday. That’s according to Galway City Cllr Shane Forde, who was disappointed by a negligible improvement from 14.5 per cent to 14.8 in the weekend discharge rates in 12 months.

“We are not discharging enough (patients) for the weekends, that’s the reason our services are under pressure, and we have no beds on Monday,” said Cllr Forde. Integrated Health Area Manager for Galway Roscommon, Ann Cosgrove acknowledged that the hospitals are challenged in terms of capacity and demands on the service, even when 199 public consultants work Saturdays.

“We are working to increase our discharge levels, ideally to 17 to 20 per cent at weekends,” she said.