It comes as 803 people are listed as having waited on a hospital trolley before receiving treatment today, according to INMO figures
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The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said it is “very concerned” about the shortage in hospital bed availability as 803 people are reported as having waited on trolleys for treatment today, among them a 90-year-old who sat on a chair for almost two days.
According to the organisation’s latest tallies for all major hospitals across the country, the worst-performing hospitals are Cork University Hospital and St Vincent’s University Hospital.
University Hospital Limerick. Photo: Don Moloney
The total number of patients recorded as waiting on trolleys for treatment in these hospitals today amounts to 127, 90 and 63 respectively.
They are followed by with University Hospital Galway with 60, Sligo University Hospital on 57, Mayo University Hospital on 34, Letterkenny University Hospital on 32 and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda on 25.
Two of the nation’s primary children’s hospitals – Tallaght and Temple Street – record a total of three, while Crumlin reports no patients waiting on trolleys.
“Yet again we are seeing huge numbers of patients being admitted to hospital without a bed today,” INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said in a statement.
“We know when activity is this high across the system, patient and staff safety suffers.”
Ms Ní Sheaghdha expressed unease at the effect that erosion of adequate facilities is having on Ireland’s older population, citing one troubling example of the reality on the ground.
General secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation Phil Ní Sheaghdha. Photo: Kyran O’Brien
“INMO members have advised that they are very concerned about the age profile of patients being admitted to hospital on trolleys. In one location a ninety-year-old was waiting on a hard chair for over 45 hours before receiving a bed,” she said.
“In another location, over 72pc of admitted inpatients are over 75. The fact that older citizens who have been deemed sick enough for admission are being treated on trolleys, chairs and other inappropriate spaces for long periods is distressing.”
The issue of staffing, according to the INMO, remains “problematic” for the organisation, a problem it says is teetering over the edge of capacity.
Unsafe staffing is undermining the ability of nurses and midwives to deliver safe and timely care. The continued use of trolleys and reliance on surge capacity mean that too many nurses are routinely working short-staffed.
“In many hospitals, unfilled rosters are becoming the norm rather than the exception, creating increasingly unsafe conditions for both nurses and patients,” Ms Ní Sheaghdha said.