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Gladys Cummins in the Mater Hospital earlier this week. RTÉ/Liveline

Fianna Fáil criticises Government after 92-year-old woman spends 25 hours on hospital chair

Gladys Cummins was in the geriatric ward of the Mater Hospital for over a day.

FIANNA FÁIL’S HEALTH spokesman Stephen Donnelly has hit out at the Government after it emerged that a 92-year-old woman was left on a chair in an Emergency Department for over 24 hours.

Gladys Cummins’ daughter Dee contacted Liveline yesterday to share her mother’s experience in the Mater Hospital in Dublin. Gladys was forced to sleep on a chair while her children looked after her. The family said it took 25 hours before she was seen. 

Dee told Liveline: “I felt people needed to see this. We talk a lot, between housing and healthcare, but nobody does anything. Rather than be a procrastinator and do nothing, I got up and took a photograph, put in on Facebook and asked people to share it.

“I thought of a Facebook page called the Long Wait. People can put photos of their relatives on this page and the amount of time they spent waiting to see a medic,” she said.

“I was hoping [Minister for Health] Simon Harris might do something about it. We know there is no easy solution but surely we can afford people some dignity when they are in an extremely vulnerable position.”

Stephen Donnelly said that yesterday’s news is a warning to Simon Harris and the HSE that their efforts in ending the trolley crisis have failed.

“We are facing into a winter the likes of which we have never experienced before. Long gone are the days of Health Ministers saying overcrowding is a winter phenomenon due to seasonal flu. 

“The past summer has seen all records in terms of sick people on trolleys being broken. The winter trolley crisis is no more; it’s now a year-round crisis and I have yet to see anything from Minister Harris that leads me to believe he or the HSE have a plan to fix it. 

“Minister Harris is now well over two years into the job; he has presided over two full winters, and is now entering into his third.

“No progress was made last year, and I am deeply worried about what lies in store for sick people, and in particular older sick people, if they need to attend our Emergency Departments.” 

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    Mute Pol Mlp
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    Nov 14th 2021, 12:08 AM

    Pandemic and hse cyber attack….2 great excuses that will be used for many years going forward

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    Mute Pol Mlp
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    Nov 14th 2021, 12:20 AM

    @K C: in a children’s hospital??

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    Mute fintan doyle
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    Nov 14th 2021, 6:54 AM

    @Pol Mlp: staff

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    Mute K C
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    Nov 14th 2021, 1:26 PM

    @Pol Mlp: exactly. Staff can carry Covid19 and pass it onto the children.

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    Mute Joseph Duggan
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    Nov 14th 2021, 2:00 AM

    History of the health system has not improved much only the outlay plenty of office personal managers middle managers etc no shortage of them shortage medical stataff @beds deny it ff fg labour

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    Mute Andy O'B
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    Nov 14th 2021, 6:27 AM

    @Joseph Duggan: what are you telling about Joseph?

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    Mute Andy O'B
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    Nov 14th 2021, 6:27 AM

    @Joseph Duggan: what are you talking about Joseph?

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    Mute Brian O'Grady
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    Nov 14th 2021, 12:17 AM

    So 40% have colds, no mention of them having covid 19

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    Mute Mac Muinteoir
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    Nov 14th 2021, 1:29 AM

    @Brian O’Grady: just don’t.

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    Mute Sinead Merrigan
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    Nov 14th 2021, 2:21 AM

    @Brian O’Grady: RSV is a very serious but very common virus that lands babies and young children in the ICU on ventilators for several days to a week. The only option is to let it run its course. Not everything is COVID. Normal bugs and viruses that land pediatric patients in hospital and the ICU haven’t gone away

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    Mute Dave Phelan
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    Nov 14th 2021, 6:01 AM

    As I write this I am conscious that there are little children in pain with distraught parents. Government should instantly divert money to allow these children have a childhood.

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    Mute Conor Brady
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    Nov 14th 2021, 8:42 AM

    This ran through my kids, leaving the baby very ill. Out the other side now but I’m in a good position to now make 3 observations:

    1) RSV is climbing unusually high in kids surely as a result of lockdown. Less exposure means less training of the innate immune system, the now proven best response to such things https://www.science.org/content/article/having-sars-cov-2-once-confers-much-greater-immunity-vaccine-vaccination-remains-vital?, rendering our most precious increasingly vulnerable to such diseases. That’s one price we have paid for the wrong policy chosen repeatedly and likely again shortly. On top of all the other public health negatives, it will need to be considered later.

    2) If today’s Covid policy is based purely on hospital beds, and with reasonable discussions on capacity not happening, why aren’t we locking down in response to our children’s hospitals overflowing with this respiratory virus? No, we must let it “run through them”. After all, we now know if we don’t…see 1).

    3) The toddler struggled through without serious treatment but the baby was really hammered with inflammation and eventually brochitis. The doctor recommended various steroids and antibiotics. Thankfully did the trick. He said there was other options too if these didn’t work. However, should my Mum catch a certain respiratory disease, one we now have many proven, safe and effective treatments for (monoclonal antibodies, antivirals, anti-inflammatories, steroids, nutraceuticals etc https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987721001419), the HSE still advises she gets nothing but pain relief until she needs the hospital where her prognosis is poor.

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    Mute Terry Tibbs
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    Nov 14th 2021, 6:47 AM

    Why are comments turned off on the Harris article?

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    Mute SquintEastwood
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    Nov 14th 2021, 1:11 AM
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    Mute David Jordan
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    Nov 14th 2021, 1:31 AM

    @SquintEastwood: Likely a consequence, nearly 2 years of social distancing means that there were fewer viruses going around so children’s (and adult’s) immunity against this and other viruses weakened, so they’re more likely to develop severe symptoms.

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    Mute SquintEastwood
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    Nov 14th 2021, 2:20 AM

    @David Jordan:what will be the spin on this ?
    Blame the milkman

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    Mute Pauline Gallagher
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    Nov 14th 2021, 3:38 PM

    There was a mother on Joe Duffy about a month ago or so crying about her son who has scoliosis, is in a lot of pain all the time, and there was a recording of his son saying he cried himself to sleep most nights, and he broke down when he was saying it. Hes only about 9 years old. He is still on a waiting list for surgery. I was hoping some rich person would hear the show and put the money up for the child to go private and get the operation done asap. No child should be suffering like this in 21st century Ireland. Its utterly despicable.

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    Mute Christine Hanway
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    Nov 15th 2021, 11:43 AM

    @Pauline Gallagher: its equally as upsetting to think all you need is money to rectify.. Imagine thats all thats standing in the way becuase there is never going to be an adequate health service in this country. Money doesn’t talk in Ireland it screams…

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    Mute George J Stephens
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    Nov 14th 2021, 3:48 AM

    500k euros every time. Life saferes

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