‘Extra nurses needed’ for A&E plan

NEW admission lounges for patients waiting for a hospital bed will not see the light of day unless additional in-patient nurses are appointed, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) warned yesterday.

The nurses’ body welcomed the move by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to provide patients with a better care environment but said they would resist any move to use existing A&E staff.

“The people waiting in the lounges will have been deemed as requiring in-patient service so they will no longer be an A&E nurse’s problem,” said INO general secretary Liam Doran.