Healthcare delays 'leading to excess Mayo deaths'

Recent figures released by the Mayo Coroner's Office, along with national and international statistics, prove beyond doubt that delays in our healthcare system is causing excess deaths in Mayo and other counties.

The claim by former independent Castlebar councillor Harry Barrett comes in the wake of Mayo solicitor Pat O'Connor's statement that he dealt with 1,008 deaths last year as coroner for the county, the highest annual figure in his 30 years in the role.

Mr. O'Connor has filed his figures for last month to the Department of Justice – 89 deaths were reported to him in January, up from 56 in January 2022, an increase of almost 60 per cent, while the 1,008 deaths recorded in all of last year is almost double the 541 deaths recorded before the Covid pandemic in 2018.

Mr. O'Connor said he is keeping an open mind about what is causing the extra deaths reported to his office.

However Mr. Barrett has also pointed to recent figures published by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in the UK which estimated that delays in emergency departments were leading to between 300 and 500 additional deaths a week.

It is the Castlebar representative's assertion that, using a similar yardstick, hundreds of Irish patients have died this winter as a result of delays in receiving treatment, being infected while in a healthcare setting or missed diagnoses.

He estimated the figure to be 116 in respect of Mayo deaths alone last year.

He elaborated: "The figures are quite alarming and show that delays in healthcare are costing us lives.

"Keeping a sick, older person on a hospital trolley for hours on end is having a negative impact while also putting them on crazy waiting lists is causing a dramatic increase in our mortality rates.

"I am calling now for an emergency meeting of the HSE Forum West to discuss these excess figures.

"The people of Mayo are being let down in terms of the provision of healthcare and the failure to provide enough staff and beds in our local hospitals.

"When an elderly person dies, nobody is asking if a delay in their treatment was a factor in the death. I am asking the question now.”