Why I really fear for elderly patients at Mayo emergency unit - councillor
"The things I witnessed were very distressing"
"I really fear for the safety of elderly patients attending the emergency department of Mayo University Hospital.
"I sat with my sick father for 13 hours in a draughty corridor, along with four other sick men, whom were at least in their 80s.
"Staff did their best but the conditions these men had to endure was nothing short of Third World."
This is according to Mayo Independent Councillor Harry Barrett.
He was speaking after he attended the emergency unit on Sunday night last with his father and is appealing for a critical review by the HSE on how elderly patients are treated in the emergency department of the Castlebar facility
Councillor Barrett explained: "This cannot go on like this any more.
"The things I witnessed on the night were very distressing.
"One man asking constantly to be moved out of the draft of an open door leading out into the ambulance yard, another man asking for water constantly.
"Another man found it very difficult to explain his symptoms to the doctor and had nobody there to assist him.
"None of these men slept due to the noise, the brightness and the draught from the open doors of the ambulance bay.
"This has come about by the failure of Westdoc's weekend service and the failure of the HSE to provide a sufficient level of doctor cover in this county, especially at the weekends.
"It has also come about by the failure of the HSE to resource our district hospitals and to have sufficient decision making capability in those hospitals to have elderly people treated in their own areas.
"I have put down questions for the next HSE Forum West meeting to deal with these concerns.
"There has to be decision makers available in Mayo University Hospital at the weekend and in our district hospitals to stop the flow into the emergency department at the weekend.
"This will include extra doctors and an ability of district hospitals to communicate via telemedicine with consultants in Mayo University Hospital.
"This would allow critical decisions to be made in our district hospitals.
"Mayo does not have sufficient doctors to provide a safe level of service and this government has to step up and recruit more, whatever it takes and these doctors must again, like they did in the '90s, go on call at the weekends.
"I do not want to see an elderly person suffer for 13 hours on a trolley in a busy, bright noisy emergency department, like my father did last Sunday night.
"It took a lot out of him as it did with the other men who waited patiently.
"This is no reflection on the very professional staff who did their best in a very difficult situation and I have nothing but the highest regard for them.
"But it is a reflection of a HSE, and governments that have completely failed to manage a trolley crisis that has been in existence now for 20 years."