The situation in Israel’s hospitals is catastrophic according to most people who have loved ones admitted to a hospital. It is well known that if a family member is hospitalized, the family must organize shifts to remain at one’s bedside to act as an advocate for the loved one, who will otherwise be lost in the system.

A recently-released Ministry of Health report confirms this, citing the overwhelming overload in the nation’s hospital emergency rooms due to the lack of treatment beds. According to the report, the average emergency department occupancy two years ago was 111%, representing an 11% increase from 2012. The report also states northern district emergency rooms were the most crowded.

The report adds that a quarter of Israelis, about 1.7 million people, were treated in a hospital emergency room during 2015. The number of people seeking treatment in an emergency room in the northern district was 1.3 times higher than the national average while Jerusalem was the lowest, with 195 visits per 1,000 people; 67% of the national average for persons with illness and 56% of the national average for seeking treatment for outside factors including vehicular accidents.

The numbers are low for Yehuda and Shomron too, 198/1,000 people – 67% of the national average for sickness and 63% of the average for outside factors. The Haifa District and center of the country reported 314/1,000 people, followed by the southern district with 307/1,000 people and Tel Aviv with 302/1,000.

Leading the least is Kaplan Hospital (Rehovot) with 258% occupancy on the average in 2015. Schneider Children’s Hospital (Petach Tikvah) reported 185% capacity and Barzilai Hospital (Ashkelon) 184% average during the same time period. Other hospitals include Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer inTel Aviv with 164%, Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava (152%), Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah (143%), Rambam Hospital in Haifa (137%), Soroka Hospital in Beersheva (134%), Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv (133%), Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem (124%) and Wolfson Hospital in Holon (120%).

Five hospitals received over 160,000 patients in the ER during 2015; Soroka, Ichilov, Sheba, Meir and Assaf HaRofeh (Rishon L’Tzion).

The poll also shows a decline in the number of treatment stations in emergency rooms in the nation’s hospitals. At the end of 2015 there were 1,195 treatment stations meeting Health Ministry criteria; of which 1,176 in hospitals for general admissions. This represents 0.14/1,000 people as compared to 0.15/1,000 in 2010.

The average hospital stay in an emergency room in 2015 was 2.9 hours as compared to 2,48 in 2012 while over a fifth (22%) of patient treated in hospitals were in the emergency room for over five hours and six percent for nine hours or more.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)