HSE South West launched a new awareness campaign called \u2018Caring for Kerry\u2019 to \u2018empower the public\u2019 to play their part by protecting capacity levels at UHK.<\/p>\n
The public is asked to be aware of pathway healthcare options and emergency department alternatives, and that overstaying at UHK causes overcrowding.<\/p>\n
It adds that admittance to UHK is \u2018always for the shortest time possible\u2019, and that planning for discharge is underway as soon as a patient is admitted.<\/p>\n
The HSE manager for Kerry, Julie O\u2019Neill, said healthcare services in the county are particularly busy at winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that wait times at the emergency department in UHK are longer than anyone wants. We are working hard to improve this and we need the people of Kerry to help our HSE South West frontline healthcare teams,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms O\u2019Neill asked people to think about how they use the emergency department \u2018appropriately\u2019 and the need for awareness of the impact overstaying has on overcrowding. She said every hour in a bed at UHK is a precious resource.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone does not move on from a bed at UHK, when that phase of their treatment is finished, it means that someone else could face a delay in their care,\u201d Ms O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n
She explained that UHK is proud of the care provided but \u2018does not and should not provide\u2019 residential care.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone is finished the acute phase of their healthcare treatment it is important that we support them to move to their next placement as soon as possible. This is not just in their best interests; it is also in the interests of anyone waiting to access care at UHK,\u201d Ms O\u2019Neill added.<\/p>\n
However, Sinn F\u00e9in Councillor Deirdre Ferris took issue with tone of the language used in the HSE advisory.<\/p>\n
She said while the concept of the initiative is good, parts of the messaging are \u2018insulting and disrespectful\u2019 to the people who have no choice but to remain in hospital beyond their acute medical needs care.<\/p>\n
Cllr Ferris said the HSE\u2019s message was effectively blaming patients for having no where safe to go.<\/p>\n
She stated that it us unfair to expect people to accept an unsafe discharge to a home with no supports, no essential modifications, no care package available and, in some cases, no community HCA’s in place.<\/p>\n
Cllr Ferris described the HSE\u2019s initiative as \u2018service centred\u2019 rather than patient centred.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have lost the human element of all this. We\u2019re looking at figures, we\u2019re looking at numbers and we\u2019re not considering the patient,\u201d she told The Kerryman.<\/p>\n
Cllr Ferris cited examples of elderly constituents with profound medical needs being discharged from hospital to homes that are ill suited to their medical needs. In some cases, their care is entrusted to an elderly spouse or sibling.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, it\u2019s highly dangerous to remain in an acute healthcare facility when you are actually well as it\u2019s more dangerous to a patient due to flu, viruses, and infections,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Cllr Ferris added that there are 52 acute beds available that are not being utilised in Killarney, while Dingle Hospital has a closed ward with a capacity for a further 22 more beds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe options are just not there for many patients. It\u2019s farcical. I have had many calls from people who are concerned because their parents or sibling is being sent home without home help being arranged, or cases where homes haven\u2019t even been assessed to see if they are suitable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt mentions specifically in the HSE statement that from the time patients are admitted they are already looking at discharge options. Why are care packages taking weeks upon weeks to get resolved? You have to have viable options for people. Nobody is being admitted who does not require acute care. That\u2019s the reality of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cllr Ferris said the clinicians are making the best possible care choices for discharging patients. However, they are unaware of the living condition of the patients and their needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some of our older properties the doors are not wide enough to suit a hoist. Many homes have carpets and a hoist cannot be used on carpets. We talk about patient centred care, there was nothing patient centred about this statement: it was service centred,\u201d Cllr Ferris added. <\/p>\n
HSE South West urges the public to follow its social media channels for all the latest updates relating to the campaign and the delivery of health and social care in Kerry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HSE South West launched a new awareness campaign called \u2018Caring for Kerry\u2019 to \u2018empower the public\u2019 to play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,2120,61,60,16585],"class_list":{"0":"post-139398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-hse","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-stephen-fernane"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}