MEDICS working in the country’s largest emergency room claim chaos ensues every weekend due to a shortage of staff and beds.
They alleged that not enough senior physicians were available for consultations during the weekend at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC), making it difficult to discharge or transfer patients to other wards.
They also told the GDN that an apparent shortage of beds in some wards meant that patients had to stay in the accident and emergency department (A/E) longer.
It follows last Sunday’s incident in which at least 60 patients were unable to be moved to other wards due to a shortage of beds.
“The chaos in the accident and emergency department on Sundays is almost becoming a regular feature,” said a senior doctor on condition of anonymity.
“It was a disastrous situation last Sunday. There were around 18 patients waiting inside the A/E from 9am and the numbers grew as the day progressed, bringing it close to 60 patients by around noon time.
“All beds in the A/E were occupied and patients who were transferred to wards were on waiting lists as there were no beds in the wards.
“Usually on weekends, from Thursday night to Sunday morning, there will be no consultants or senior doctors in the A/E and the department is manned by one or two resident doctors.
“So, most of the admission cases will be held back for Sundays waiting for the senior doctors to come and decide.
“This means patients will remain in A/E beds until they are consulted and are either discharged or transferred to the wards.
“Moreover, there are three wards in the hospital that are closed for maintenance, which adds to the bed shortage.
“Sometimes patients remain in the A/E for days just because there are no beds in the wards they need to be shifted to.”
He blamed the ongoing issue on a lack of co-ordination between the administrations of the hospital and the accident and emergency department.
Chaos
“There is no active co-ordination between the administrations of the hospital and the A/E, which is very important,” he explained.
“And neither department bother even after repeatedly informing the A/E on the shortage and the issues that we face.
“Last Sunday some of the top officials of the departments, who were checking on the cleanliness standards, witnessed patients becoming violent as they were made to wait for hours on wheel chairs and stretchers – but it didn’t bother them.
“Some of the doctors and nurses were almost attacked by one of the family members for not allotting a bed for the patient who was on a wheelchair after his X-ray and blood test.”
A nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, said a recently imposed rule to not have patients in the waiting area was actually contributing to the chaos inside the accident and emergency department.
“The new rule in the A/E is that there should be no patients in the waiting area, which was a decision to help reduce the waiting time for patients,” she said. “This means that as soon as they register they will come inside the A/E, irrespective of whether there is enough staff to attend to them, and these are patients who obviously need emergency attention.
“This system in no way reduces waiting time, instead they are waiting for longer hours.
“Last Sunday we had at least four patients on ambulance stretchers who could not be attended to and later had no beds to be moved to, so they ended up waiting in the corridor.”
The Health Ministry did not comment when contacted by the GDN.
The SMC’s accident and emergency department, which receives close to 1,200 patients a day, has 108 beds of which eight are for resuscitation and 26 for children. The hospital in total has around 1,200 beds.
In February, hospital officials denied claims by medics that a shortage of A/E doctors and nurses was putting patients’ lives at risk.
Medics said at the time that the department was relying on trainees and was understaffed by as much as 60 per cent, with more than 30 doctors leaving since 2013 and never being replaced.
raji@gdn.com.bh
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