St Luke's - Let's all watch it disappear down the tubes.

Dozen Wicked Words

Currently there are almost 40 people waiting for a bed. There are 20 plus people sleeping on corridors of wards, including those well into their 80s with no screens for privacy, no call bell to ask for assistance, no tables to eat their dinners off. Local press report virtually nothing, hospital management quoted yesterday on kclrs twitter as "almost" at capacity. When you have 60 patients more than you can physically, safely look after, I'd say the "almost" ship has long since sailed.

Good news though, Kilkenny won a litter league competition again. Oh, and the new building is coming on nicely. Won't be any more beds to move the patients on to from said new building, but still, it's new.

Dozen Wicked Words

Well Kilkenny People finally bothered to put something that could be considered news on their site.

http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/kilkenny-news/39-patients-on-trolleys-at-st-luke-s-1-6503503

Laughable quote from the hospital, none of who's managers, of which there are loads, bothered to turn up over the weekend during this sh*tstorm.

“St Luke’s General Hospital wishes to reassure people, that while the hospital is extremely busy at present, that patients are been seen and cared for appropriately,”

Not sure anyone would consider a broken bed, on a corridor an appropriate place to care for someone.

Rantan

come off it, the country has been in the s**ts for years, when a country is in the s**ts **** things happen - they are currently in the middle of building an extension to cope with this kind of issue - things cant happen overnight
if you want a perfect health system you need to pay for it.

Straight question and Im not being smart: Would you be prepared to pay approx. 20% more tax to be in a position to have a decent public health system coz that's what it would take...

as for you knocking the litter award??
that's just weird...can you not just take a bit of good news for what it is? no pleasing some people

Dozen Wicked Words

The new build does not add a single overnight ward bed to St Lukes, and would therefore make f*ck all difference to the current situation. The only difference it could possibly make would be more space for trolleys on the corridors of the new ED rather than spread around the hospital. 10 plus million spent on building, and they can't guarantee they will have funds to staff the new ED when it opens.

The litter award is great, but if you considered that the most important news story of the day I would say your priorities are wrong. Each to their own though.

Rantan

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

.......and they can't guarantee they will have funds to staff the new ED when it opens.

So are you prepared to pay more tax in order to fund a functioning health system?

".....but if you considered that the most important news story of the day I would say your priorities are wrong. Each to their own though.

I never said that is the most important news story of the day..in all fairness you're being a bit hysterical and are just saying stuff to suit yourself coz I think you sound a bit emotional about this and I don't want to get into a pointless fight so, I agree that's it unacceptable that there are so many people on trolleys but on the other hand its where we are in this country - we still have an enormous deficit and are still essentially bust and the money has to come from somewhere so unless people are prepared to pay even more tax theres no point getting upset over the bad things that happen,

Dozen Wicked Words

Rantan wrote: »

theres no point getting upset over the bad things that happen,

Bravo.

Rantan

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Bravo.

ok..but for the third and final time....are you prepared....

..ah forget it........

theres no point trying to debate this with you is there?

Dozen Wicked Words

Rantan wrote: »

ok..but for the third and final time....are you prepared....

..ah forget it........

theres no point trying to debate this with you is there?

I'm completely prepared to pay more tax that funds a better health service, a good start for the government would be to end the ridiculous year on year cuts to current funding first though.

You were factually incorrect about the new build making a difference to the current situation. It wont. It will improve the size and facilities of ED and MAU, and will have a new day ward, all great things, but the patients will still be there waiting for a bed that isn't there.

I also don't think I said the litter award was a bad thing or was knocking it as you suggested, maybe you're just saying stuff to suit yourself.

Still there's always

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Fgp-KihIA

Rantan

"...Good news though, Kilkenny won a litter league competition again....."

Honestly?? Not just a hint of sarcasm in there??

re the wards....my understanding was(and I am happy to be contradicted by anyone who has more knowledge of the facts by the way....) that the new wards will free up space in ward beds that is been used by people who don't really need them? If I go in for an out-patient procedure now, where do I go to get assessed and to wait? I assume a bed in a ward and then get sent home after the procedure?
Will having a new day ward not free those beds taken by these people?
would having a bigger ed not mean that at least more people will be in a cubicle until a bed comes free and not on trolleys?
will the mau not free more beds in the ed so people can be moved more efficiently through the process and keep ed cubicles free and again keep people off trolleys?
these are genuine questions - I have no hospital knowledge only just been in there with a family member who has a condition that requires the ed every few months so don't really know the details.....

Dozen Wicked Words

Rantan wrote: »

"...Good news though, Kilkenny won a litter league competition again....."

Honestly?? Not just a hint of sarcasm in there??

re the wards....my understanding was(and I am happy to be contradicted by anyone who has more knowledge of the facts by the way....) that the new wards will free up space in ward beds that is been used by people who don't really need them? If I go in for an out-patient procedure now, where do I go to get assessed and to wait? I assume a bed in a ward and then get sent home after the procedure?
Will having a new day ward not free those beds taken by these people?
would having a bigger ed not mean that at least more people will be in a cubicle until a bed comes free and not on trolleys?
will the mau not free more beds in the ed so people can be moved more efficiently through the process and keep ed cubicles free and again keep people off trolleys?
these are genuine questions - I have no hospital knowledge only just been in there with a family member who has a condition that requires the ed every few months so don't really know the details.....

The current day ward has 13 patients sleeping every night in it, actual spaces for 12 patients. There are no day procedures at present as there are nowhere to put them. MAU is the medical equivalent of ED. During the day, You have pneumonia or exacerbation of a breathing condition for example you go to MAU, the medical assessment unit. If you have had a trauma or have appendicitis, or have been p*sed and involved in a fight you go to ED. Night time ED gets it all. A trolley is not a good place for anyone to be for prolonged period of time cubicle or not. Pressure sores can develop in hours.

Neither of these places are wards in St Lukes, one asseses medical, the other trauma, surgical etc with the aim then to discharge them or move them to a ward. Neither create more bedspaces.

The current day ward could, in theory create those 12 ward beds but it's already been stated they won't be keeping them open because they won't fund the staff. With regard to the new ED, there will be more cubicles, but as I said before, there has been no assurance that they will have money to fund the nurses required to cover the additional cubicles.

Ask most ED nurses in Lukes what they think of the new unit they will tell you they have a mix of delight and complete fear about what it will mean. Great they will have better facilities and space and hopefully equipment that works but fear that rather than people being moved onto wards on trolleys, the ample corridors will cater much more space for trolleys to wait and they will be expected to look after them. If it's like the current situation, for upward of 48 hours.

Anyway, my original ire, or perhaps some would call it hysterics, was aimed more at local media and total disregard for what is surely the biggest local story at present. Hence the reference to the litter award and it's importance to Kilkenny People, KCLR and the like at the time. There's news and soft news and they choose the later. Not that I'm expecting Woodward and Bernstein, just decent journalism.

Tramps Like Us

its the same all over the country. Theres no need to belittle "litter awards" they mean a lot and are the result of a lot of hard work. Theres no reason the town cant have clean streets and a good hospital

kikel

Don't worry our mayor Andrew mcguinness is on the case.

toe_knee

Just as a matter of interest why would anyone pay 20% more tax to put into a faulty system that doesn't work correctly or efficiently? I would pay more tax but if the system was setup correctly I don't think it would need more tax.

On the other hand St. Lukes is not the only hospital with an issue, every hospital is in the same boat. I would sooner have it there than not have it. We should count ourselves lucky that it is still there and money is being spent on it.

Absolute Zero

Rantan wrote: »

come off it, the country has been in the s**ts for years, when a country is in the s**ts **** things happen - they are currently in the middle of building an extension to cope with this kind of issue - things cant happen overnight
if you want a perfect health system you need to pay for it.

Straight question and Im not being smart: Would you be prepared to pay approx. 20% more tax to be in a position to have a decent public health system coz that's what it would take...

as for you knocking the litter award??
that's just weird...can you not just take a bit of good news for what it is? no pleasing some people

Welcome to the Kilkenny forum.

Rantan

where has Foxy been these past few months??

Haven't seen or heard from him(her?) in ages..

Odyssey 2005

Rantan wrote: »

where has Foxy been these past few months??

Haven't seen or heard from him(her?) in ages..

SHHHH ! 💣💊

mydogjack

Yeah, it's true. A new extension, and not one single o/n bed as a result. Staff must be so pi**ed off with this. They work so hard, and the main medical/surgical wards seem outdated and space can be a bit hit & miss.
There is often Mental Health 'Special Nursing Obs' service users with a nurse present 24/7 in the same ward/bay as others. No confidentiality, dignity etc.
A few years back, I think the gynecology ward was downsized/merged, and poor people who had the misfortune of miscarrying/losing a baby were admitted to beds beside new mothers. It was all very insensitive and seemed very unfair at the time.
M.A.U is often static, with a long list of patients waiting with relatives.
The new ED is badly needed, but so too is a complete renovation and extension to bed capacity.
As stated, all staff working there are doing their very best. They deserve this as much as the service users.

kikel

My 3 month old daughter spent a few days in hospital this week. No sign of over crowding, staff were excellent. Not saying st Luke's doesn't have problems but this thread needed a good story.

mydogjack

Sorry to hear about your daughter. If you look at the posts previous to yours. you will see the staff are praised in them. It's the premises, lack of space, bad planning, lack of funding etc. that we are frustrated with.
Staff always did, and will, continue to work hard no matter what the environment throws at them.
It is hard to believe though, that this large new building will house admin, stores, etc but not one single o/n bed will be created.
I wonder will the current wards be upgraded or does anybody know if this is planned for in the near future?