Irish Donor Kidneys Sent Abroad-No Beds

[orbit]

A couple of other points. Obviously, organs don't arrive at a hospital on a predefined schedule. It's totally unpredictable, and they had done quite a lot (don't have the exact number) of transplants in the previous 48 hours. And that is why the beds were full.

The beds themselves are in a special unit with "positive air pressure" or something like that, and there's a host of other specialised services needed as well. So, it's not just a case of adding beds to a ward.

It strikes me (and I am willing to be corrected if I'm wrong) but if this happens, once in a blue moon, it probably means that the system is resourced just about right. There's no point in having expensive hospital capacity, that doesn't get utilised 95% of the time.

The best thing would be to arrange some kind of swap arrangement with the UK, where we can get some of their organs at a future date in return.

[Akrasia]

Why is that exactly?

Maybe you could get one that says: "Please give me organs to Irish people only."

The simple explanation for this is that there was building work (yes, that's right, the State is improving the hospital) going on in Beaumont at the time, and that to protect transplant patients, they were moved away from the area of the building work, which reduced the bed capacity. During the fortnight in question, there was an unusually high number of available organs, which resulted in 3 organs being sent to the UK.

Um, the problem is that the Irish health service is running consistently at more than 100% capacity when it should be running at 80% capacity in order to facilitate the normal day to day maintanance and upgrade of facilities and to be prepared in case of sudden increases in demand for health services, and to facilitate proper hygene and isolation procedures to protect vulnerable patients.

[Akrasia]

It strikes me (and I am willing to be corrected if I'm wrong) but if this happens, once in a blue moon, it probably means that the system is resourced just about right. There's no point in having expensive hospital capacity, that doesn't get utilised 95% of the time.

It's a management failure. Clearly when they were undertaking this building work, they did not take appropriate measures to maintain the service in an alternative site. The building work was planned, but not planned well enough. The fact that there were 'fewer beds available' is what I mentioned on my previous post, the hospital was operating at more than capacity, as usual, and was unable to deal with anything unexpected.

These organs had to be sent abroad, what would have happened if there was, lets say a building collapse in dublin that resulted in hundreds of injuries requiring emergency treatment. Would they have been sent to the U.K. too?

[sparkey321]

It's a management failure. Clearly when they were undertaking this building work, they did not take appropriate measures to maintain the service in an alternative site. The building work was planned, but not planned well enough. The fact that there were 'fewer beds available' is what I mentioned on my previous post, the hospital was operating at more than capacity, as usual, and was unable to deal with anything unexpected.

These organs had to be sent abroad, what would have happened if there was, lets say a building collapse in dublin that resulted in hundreds of injuries requiring emergency treatment. Would they have been sent to the U.K. too?

There are specific requirements for patients post transplant surgery. They cannot just be put on a standard ward or even a standard room.

As already has been posted the unit was extremely busy during this period (far busier than normal) and the the required facilities were just not available.

This is not a regular occurrence, it was a one off.

[greengoose2]

There are specific requirements for patients post transplant surgery. They cannot just be put on a standard ward or even a standard room.

As already has been posted the unit was extremely busy during this period (far busier than normal) and the the required facilities were just not available.

This is not a regular occurrence, it was a one off.

There are a tad too many "once offs" in our health system. And what the hell is a standard ward/room?

[EoinMn]

no point having a donor card now then

The organs were sent to the UK.

[EoinMn]

It strikes me (and I am willing to be corrected if I'm wrong) but if this happens, once in a blue moon, it probably means that the system is resourced just about right. There's no point in having expensive hospital capacity, that doesn't get utilised 95% of the time..

It strikes me that the transplant unit is running at 100% capacity almost all the time. It desperately needs more space, more privacy, more toilets and more beds. Probably more staff too.

I say this as someone who had a kidney transplant in Beaumont.

The staff are doing a world-class job with the limited space they have. But they need more.

The standard stay for a transplant patient is 10 days. I was let out after a mere 5 days due to a shortage of beds. Luckily, I was young and otherwise fit. With older patients, they hadn't the option to discharge them early.

[EoinMn]

Best of luck, Bonkers. I hope you get a transplant very soon.

[sparkey321]

what the hell is a standard ward/room?

A standard medical \ surgical hospital ward or room would have a certain level of equipment an infrastructure.

Specialist wards would have different requirements regarding infrastructure and equipment.

For example positive pressure rooms, speciality equipment, specialist training for staff.

[greengoose2]

A standard medical \ surgical hospital ward or room would have a certain level of equipment an infrastructure.

Specialist wards would have different requirements regarding infrastructure and equipment.

For example positive pressure rooms, speciality equipment, specialist training for staff.

Like the special ones for CF?