Trolley numbers down significantly on Paddys weekend - the fix was rostering...

I think O’Donnell pushed through the contracts which mean they can be made work at the weekends. It was always glaringly obvious it was due to staff leave. Every single New Year, after the hospitals being effectively closed for two weeks, the papers and unions would be screaming about trollies. Phil Ni Hucky or whatever she’s called has been strangely silent today.

Another interesting figure would be nurses absenteeism.

The surgical hub were Donnellys baby too and they are coming out of the ground now also.

if its a case of a new roster sorting out A+E trolleys then the Health unions should be dagged ove the coals, they have argued for years that this would have no effect on numbes and that no paitent were being kept in hospital longer than nessessary

Yes, not FF at all but thought it was a shame he lost his seat. Was very capable. He hasn’t got any credit for the changes he brought about. He certainly started to turn the ship. He really drilled down on the problems in the Limerick hospital and was making life quite uncomfortable for the responsible individuals there.

No you don't understand. I mean every worker worked every day with no days off.

There simply isn't enough doctors in places like UHL to keep this "new roster" going.

If it worked over Paddy's weekend it's definitely worth a try.

Yet the nurses union are collecting data on numbers on trolleys and pointing out the problems.

No, but if it is shown to work then it does demonstrate a way forward and a justification for a particular number of staff.

I have maintained that history will be kind to Stephen Donnelly.

A report on radio today said a surgeon was not on duty for the weekend because his elective surgical list was cancelled - no surgery so no pre op patients admitted on Sunday so more free beds - apparently - smoke and mirrors stuff.

The fact is we have insufficient beds to cope with the population increase since 2000 - not enough beds is not enough beds.

Blaming an unwillingness to work in front line staff is why our health workers have been voting with their passports for years now.

I agree with 5/7 but that doesn't seem to be what is happening. This was people brought in on time off to cover a PR exercise. They basically overloaded with staff which isn't sustainable. They also just moved trolleys to other corridors of the hospital so technically you were not on an A&E trolley any more.

Consultants not working weekends was nuts and needs to be addressed but I don't buy what this article is telling me.

If it does lead to more staff that's great but the people up top are saying there will not be more staff.

The only fix for the trolley crisis is more beds which means more staff. The trolley crisis isn't a weekend problem so while this will bring Saturday and Sunday down to weekday levels which is good we will still have a trolley crisis.

Couldn't say for definite because it's only from what I hear from people who work there. But what they say sounds more plausible than this. They supercharged the hospital for the weekend including pulling from other areas affecting clinics (the clinic bit I do know definitely happened). Beds were moved around to mask numbers and discharges were "encouraged".

If it's a simple reorganization of staff towards the weekend why does UHL have a trolley crisis Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday ?

The trolley crisis was never a weekend only problem.

 but no staff anywhere in the developed world are working 365 days a year. 

FFS! Nobody was suggesting they should or would be. "legal requirements blah blah". Cop yourself on, no-one was saying that. What people are saying is there should be 365, 24 hours a day cover.

I mentioned I worked in a bank on Sundays. It wasn't all day on Sunday it was for 8 hours and then someone took over. I took over from someone else.

You are right, A&E is a very stressful environment, so having an 8-hour, five days a week roster should be perfectly fine. Thinking people dont need treatment after 7pm, or at 2pm on a saturday is the wrong thinking though.

Intel works on 4 days on, 3 days off 12 hour shifts, and it runs 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It doesn't stop because the senior guy is having his afternoon off.

It's not that simple, and you are right not to believe it. This seems like some sort of marketing push for her more than anything else.

Anybody that has ever been in one of the hospitals that suffer from those issues knows that nothing has been fixed, and definitely not for the long run. IMO it is a pretty weird attempt at a massive claim.

It does feel a bit like Helen McEntee's wandering down Talbot Street with her detachment of security and then announcing Dublin is perfectly safe. Cherry picking "not terrible numbers" and announcing it is a success.

Anybody that has ever been in one of the hospitals that suffer from those issues knows that nothing has been fixed, and definitely not for the long run. IMO it is a pretty weird attempt at a massive claim.

I was in a hospital for a night recently. On a trolley. Several doctors ran their phone across my eyes. Not because they have an advanced diagnosis app. Because they dont have penlight torches to check the eyes reaction to seeing light. They were using the torch on their phone.

Having a penlight torch is not a "must have" in an A&E department, but it would not bankrupt the nation to have them available in A&E departments around the country. It kind of makes you think, if they are skimping on stuff like this, what else are they skimping on?

hahahaha, relax folks, its not a roistering problem, theres far more fundamental problems with our health system, these issues have not been solved, go about your lives…..