Addendum to the ‘Minister of Health Article

Now and again you come across an report or, some data related to an article you wrote at an earlier date. Such an article appeared in the Irish Times, under the heading, “30% of admitted patients discharged within 24 hours is ‘absolutely crazy'”. It seems that in 2018 the HSE conducted a survey of 293,976 hospital discharges and found that 33,929 (11.5%) patients were discharged the same day  and 55,510 (18.8%) were discharged within 24 hours. In times where health service resources are stretched the first question that comes to mind is how many of these patients should have presented at the hospital at all. The article did go on to give some context to these number and in the absence of any published detail we have to be careful about drawing conclusions. For example, a percentage of patients would have been discharged from one hospital to be transferred to another for specialised treatment. Also, the consultants are quick to point out that often junior staff are left to cover the out of hours shifts and do not have the training, experience or, confidence to discharge patients and so they are given beds until a more senior colleague can make the decision.

I wouldn’t think for a moment that Simon Harris follows my Blog but it is coincidental that the survey was conducted in the same year that I wrote an article about the importance of getting the raw data together and analysing the numbers before tipping even more taxpayers money into the Health industry money pit. (See the link to the 2018 article below) In the absence of any other published material I can find, I find it astonishing that the survey was conducted as late as 2018 and that the conclusions are only reported in 2020. I assume that further investigations are being made into the type of health issue presented and whether HSE resources were being used in the best way.

I hope that what we are seeing is like the proverbial duck above water whilst all the activity is below the waterline, soon to be released to an unsuspecting public. I say ‘unsuspecting public’ as nothing approaching a set of clear management accounts has emerged from Simon Harris or, the HSE and I think that the tax payer would be astonished if something like a sign of good management and governance should appear in the near future. In the recent election I saw many promises of extra expenditure on public services but very little mention of getting value for money. Just throwing money at a problem solves nothing. There is no alternative to understanding the fundamentals  and drivers of the Health Service but what has filtered through to the public is very disappointing.

 

 

 

 

Article: Minister for Health September 2018

The Irish Times, 24/02/20, 30% of admitted patients discharged within 24 hours is ‘absolutely crazy’, p1, Paul Cullen