The financial difficulties facing one of Dublin's flagship hospitals has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of people it has treated this year, an analysis of hospital admission figures suggests.
The Mater hospital admitted 44 per cent fewer patients for elective surgery in the period January to July 2003 compared with the same period last year. The total number of admissions to the Dublin teaching hospital dropped by 14.3 per cent.
An analysis carried out by the Irish Patients Association (IPA), comparing the activity in Dublin hospitals on a year-to-date basis, shows that of the capital's five teaching hospitals, the Mater has the worst performance. The IPA report highlights the Mater as "an area of concern" and "an indication of blunt fiscal management (at the hospital)".
Earlier this year the Mater had to close beds and let front-line staff go as a result of a significant budgetary deficit. It was also forced to close part of its medical assessment unit, which had been successful in reducing waiting times for people attending its accident and emergency unit.
The IPA analysis shows the Mater admitted 10,304 patients in the period January to July 2002. However, for the months January to July 2003, the number of people admitted to the hospital dropped to 8,835. The numbers attending its accident and emergency department dropped by 8 per cent while the number of people in the category "other emergency admission" rose by three per cent.
Referring to this category, the report says "it suggests that patients who may be waiting for elective treatment deteriorate to such a degree that they require urgent attention". Medical sources have confirmed to The Irish Times that as access to a hospital becomes increasingly choked, people who originally required urgent elective treatment deteriorate to the point where they become emergency cases.
On a positive note, St James's Hospital has achieved the Health Strategy target of having no adult patient wait longer than 12 months for treatment. "It conducted more treatments in the second quarter of 2003 compared with the first quarter (1,669 versus 1,523)", the report says.
Several hospitals appear to have benefited from the input of the National Treatment Purchase Fund. Beaumont Hospital treated 210 patients under the NTPF in the second quarter of the year compared to 69 in the first quarter. Tallaght hospital almost doubled the number of NTPF patients treated.
However, St Vincent's Hospital only managed to treat an additional seven patients under the NTPF initiative to tackle "long waiters" when second and first quarter figures for the hospital are compared. In its commentary, the IPA says " the main concern is the low take-up of the NTPF when one looks at the number of patients waiting more than 12 months ( for treatment) at St Vincent's". It continues: "at this rate, assuming no further patients are added to its waiting list, it will take about three years to clear the existing long waiters which appears inconsistent with other hospitals"