Nurses angry over patients left on trolleys

NURSES vented their anger yesterday at the way patients are being routinely left on trolleys for over a week in a busy city hospital.

One elderly woman lay on a trolley in Tallaght Hospital for more than two weeks after suffering a stroke.

Irish Nurses Organisation industrial relations officer Kevin O'Connor said the 74-year-old woman, who was admitted suffering from hypertension, was never allocated a bed during her entire hospital stay.

"She is just one of a number of patients who have to lie on a thin mattress on top of a two-foot wide trolley during their entire hospital stay in conditions that we cannot tolerate," said Mr O'Connor when the nurses staged a lunchtime protest outside the hospital gates.

Over the previous two months nurses noted that in-patients taken to the day care ward were spending, on average, between seven to 12 days on trolleys.

Mr O'Connor claimed hospital management were abusing a contingency plan that provides for an overflow of patients to be taken from accident and emergency to the day care unit until a bed was found for them.

"What was supposed to be an emergency mechanism has become the daily norm at Tallaght Hospital. There are 12 in-patients in the day ward every day now," said Mr O'Connor.

The situation was also impacting on the trolley space in the day care area, resulting in day care patients having procedures cancelled up to four times in six months.

"We have no problem with the escalation policy we signed up to it. But we have a difficulty with the way it is being abused. It was meant to be a contingency plan, not a daily norm for the entire year."

Mr O'Connor said the bed shortage in the 610-bed acute hospital reflected the national situation and was not helped by up to 60 long-term patients occupying beds for acute hospital admission.

Hospital management said the issue had been aired in the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and the hospital was awaiting a Labour Court hearing. They said it was normal that while awaiting this date, industrial action is stood down.

Mr O'Connor said they had gone to the LRC three times already to no avail. "They now want to take us to the Labour Court. What is really happening is management opting out of managing."

He said under the new partnership deal that comes into effect in June, management must come to the table for discussions when requested to by a union.

Hospital management said National Industrial Relations Protocol was agreed for the dispute and was disappointed these procedures were not used.

Mr O'Connor said they would go to the Labour Court to discuss the issue further but the work to rule that began early last month would remain in place until the hearing took place.

"The solution to this issue is to create enough beds in the system to free up A&E so the contingency plan will not have to kick in every day," he said.