Nurses ask public to support lunchtime protest

Nurses at Beaumont Hospital have called on patients and the public to join them as they hold the first in a series of lunchtime protests at 1pm today.

Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) working in the Emergency Department will demonstrate between 1-2pm at the gates of the hospital.

The protest is to highlight “the unsafe conditions in the ED due to severe overcrowding and staff shortages”, according to the union.

During the month of November 2014, a total of 729 admitted patients waited on trolleys for an in-patient bed, compared to 661 for the same period in 2013.

This morning there were 41 admitted patients on trolleys awaiting a hospital bed, 35 of whom were placed in the Emergency Department.

Speaking today, INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Lorraine Monaghan said: “This protest, which will be the first of a number of rolling protests, is necessary to highlight the serious problems that exist in Beaumont ED which is constantly overcrowded and understaffed.

“Our members will also be balloting for industrial action should management fail to adequately address the situation.”

“Nurses working in the department are at breaking point as they are faced with unmanageable workloads and mounting pressure that they have no control over. They will no longer tolerate this situation whereby patient care is compromised due to insufficient staffing levels and constant overcrowding. A strategic action plan needs to be devised by management to address the overcrowding problem and existing nursing vacancies must be filled as a matter of urgency.

“The INMO is calling on the Minister for Health and the HSE to immediately bring forward funding to allow patients who have completed the acute phase of their care to move to a more appropriate setting, either at home with necessary supports, or to a community bed, to increase much needed capacity in Beaumont Hospital.”