Beaumont Hospital asks people to avoid A&E department

People have been asked to avoid Beaumont Hospital’s emergency department because of overcrowding.

Chief executive of the hospital Liam Duffy says ambulance services will be accommodated at the hospital today, but patients should avoid the emergency department if at all possible.

He urged potential patients to visit their GPs for treatment before going to Beaumont.

Speaking on RTÉ radio Mr Duffy said the hospital was particularly vulnerable to overcrowding at the emergency department as it served a catchment area whose population had increased rapidly over recent years.

He also said there was a large elderly population in the area and the hospital was subject to other pressures at weekends.

Over the weekend other hospitals had stepped in and made bed spaces available to take some of the pressure off Beaumont.

He said the hospital had an “escalation” plan in peace which involved using beds in wards which had been closed for refurbishment and discharging patients who were in a suitable condition.

But he said there were 100 beds at the hospital which were accommodating long-term, non-acute patients who were waiting for beds in other facilities such as nursing homes.

To improve the situation in the long term the hospital needed to access more long term care places in other facilities, he said.

While he said the hospital would still be on call for ambulances today he said the situation “remains very challenging”.