'One member of staff apologised 65 times in one shift'
5 Live’s Tony Livesey spent a day in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast to find out what life is like for staff working on the frontline in the run up to Christmas.
The Royal Victoria Hospital, known to locals as 'The Royal', treats more than 80,000 people as inpatients and 350,000 people as outpatients every year. It also provides local services to the people of Belfast and a large number of regional specialist services to people from across Northern Ireland.
'We're running at 110%'
Staff nurse James Coogan is one of the first people patients see at the hospital when they arrive by ambulance.
He told Tony his job is to "allocate patients" throughout the emergency department based on their clinical needs.
"The department's overwhelmed," he said. "It feels like we've been running like this as far back as I can remember, probably from January.
"We're running at 110%, but we're giving 110% here every single day."
'One member of staff apologised 65 times in one shift'
Advanced clinical practitioner Olivia Wilson told Tony what staff perceive as normal now is very different to their workload pre-pandemic.
"Two years ago we would have walked into this department and maybe have 25 people waiting to get into wards and think that's horrendous," she said.
"We're now walking into the department where we can have up to 40 or 50 people waiting, so our perceived norm has changed."
When asked if she feels like apologising to her patients for the long waiting times, she said every member of staff apologises "numerous times" each shift.
"One member of staff counted she apologised 65 times in a seven and a half hour shift," she said.
"A lot of times we are apologising for stuff that is out of our control, long-term wise that will have an impact on staff."
'What worries me most is our staff'
Dr Chris Hagan, medical director for Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, told Tony he’s “never seen anything like” the current numbers of patients coming to the emergency department.
“It feels relentless at the moment,” he said. “What worries me most is our staff. I know they’re exhausted and they’re tired and what they need is for the system to decompress.
“We have over 400 patients in hospital beds from Covid… we have the equivalent number in terms of patients fit for discharge, but they can’t get out – one of the issues around that is the issue of domiciliary care packages,” he said.
When asked what could be done to stop the number of patients attending the emergency department, he said patients should “only come to the ED if [they] need to be here".
"If you’ve got a problem that can be managed by primary care, please see your GP," he said.
'We all have to play our part in supporting our health service this winter'
Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann said: “I very much share the deep concern across our community at the pressures on our health service.
"Those pressures are escalating, are deep-seated and have been building up over many years. They are felt right across all parts of the health and social care system.
"They boil down to a lack of capacity to deal with current level of demand. They are not just down to Covid, however the pandemic has become the tipping points and continues to impact heavily on capacity, especially in terms of staffing shortfalls.
"I commend the efforts right across the system to mitigate the pressures and to work together collectively to look after patients as best we can.
"We all have to play our part in supporting our health service this winter. Vaccination is the single biggest thing each of us as citizens can do. Get your booster if you are eligible. And if you haven’t got your first dose, please don’t delay any longer. This is a crisis and we all have to play our part and look after each other.
"Keep wearing a mask in indoor settings like shops and public transport. Keep windows open and be careful about social contacts. And we have to keep washing our hands. Every action makes a difference.”
