Shortage of beds for brain injury patients criticised

ACQUIRED BRAIN injury is a “silent epidemic” in Ireland and patients are no longer even being offered the choice of Boston or Berlin for health care but Bucharest or Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe, the Dáil has heard.

Labour disability spokeswoman Kathleen Lynch said there was a chronic shortage of beds for patients with acquired brain injuries and a complete lack of such beds in some regions. “With a serious head injury, immediate intervention is essential to ensure the person returns to normality, if normality can be achieved.

“It is conservatively estimated that there are 10,000 new brain injuries every year in this country, but there are just 110 beds in the Republic to deal with these people. That doesn’t make sense at any level,” she said.

“Even if we look at the Bucharest model, Romania, with a population of 22 million has 32 specialists per million of population.”

Ms Lynch said anything beyond a two-week delay was totally unacceptable, “but the tragic certainty that a sick person has to wait two years for an initial assessment is nothing short of abandonment of its obligation to the public by the HSE”.

The HSE, “which has a national annual budget in excess of €13 billion, a sum that would float some of the newer economies in the EU, should be giving us a much better service”.

The Labour TD was speaking during a Labour private members’ motion on neurological services, which called for the establishment of a regional network of rehabilitation facilities and services to be established in the context of a national Rehabilitation strategy; an increase in the number of approved posts for consultant neurologists from 24 to 42 and neurosurgeons from nine to 16.

But Minister for Health Mary Harney said that in the area of neurology there are currently 24 approved posts of consultant neurologist in Ireland of which 19 are filled. This is an increase of 10 approved posts since 2003, when the last report was completed.

“In addition, there are currently seven approved posts of consultant clinical neurophysiologist of which four are filled. This is an increase of four approved posts.” The Minister said a final draft report of a national review by the HSE of neurological services had been completed and “has been submitted to the Director of the National Hospitals Office for consideration”.

She said a new hospital with a completion target date of 2012, would provide additional treatment and diagnostic capacity. The design for the hospital is to be submitted for planning by mid-2008.

She added that “the HSE has also informed me that plans have also been prepared to develop a satellite unit of the National Rehabilitation Hospital attached to Beaumont Hospital, linking the rehabilitation expertise of NRH with the neurological services in Beaumont.

“This new proposed unit will provide acute medical rehabilitation services and early rehabilitation for those suffering from brain injury who access the National Neurosciences Unit at Beaumont Hospital and who currently have to access services at the National Rehabilitation Hospital.” She said the Government “is also committed in our programme to increasing rehabilitation bed capacity”.

Labour health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan was “particularly concerned that we are hearing long-needed development of service being abandoned in order just to simply keep the service going without any changes in the way the service is run”.