Mayo family tells Taoiseach of ‘horrific’ hospital experience

Patients going unheard "in a dysfunctional, broken system"

A MAYO family has told An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of their ‘horrific’ experience at Mayo University Hospital and the need for the serious situation there to be urgently addressed.

In an email to the head of government, which was copied to local elected representatives, they described the conditions and level of services at the centre’s emergency department as ‘quite frankly horrific’ when an ill family member was brought there by ambulance.

Local Councillor Michael Kilcoyne, a member of the HSE West Forum, said the family wish to remain anonymous but gave him permission to highlight their concerns in order that they may be addressed for the benefit of other patients.

He stated: “The letter told of abandoned elderly patients on trolleys squeezed into any available corridor space, parked beside toilets without privacy, dignity or comfort.

“The main purpose of the communication with An Taoiseach was to make him aware that when they screamed for the help of a doctor or a nurse for their sick father in an emergency, they were told by a patient in the next bed, who had a clear view of the trolley-lined corridor, that ‘there is no one there’.

“They continued to shout for help as loud as they could during an episode that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Still nobody came to help.

“They don’t want to go into the details in the media of their horrific ordeal which has left them broken hearted and dismayed that a developed country like Ireland has such a decimated health service and that people like their father are going unheard in a dysfunctional, broken system.

“He was subsequently transferred to Mayo Hospice where he was treated with dignity and humanity in his final hours.

"The contrast between these two experiences could not be sharper.

“The family are not asking for more empty promises from An Taoiseach.

"They want him to know that the emergency department of the hospital is not a safe environment due to insufficient staffing levels, unmanageable patient-to-carer ratios and an utter disregard for the safety, comfort, dignity and wellbeing of the people of Mayo.”

Mayo University Hospital or the HSE does not comment on individual cases.