Hospitals’ use of nursing home beds to be cut

HOSPITAL managers have warned the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) that cutbacks are on the way in the number of nursing home beds contracted to health boards.

INO General Secretary Liam Doran said managers of Dublin’s leading acute hospitals, including Tallaght and the Mater, have blamed the latest A&E pressures on a reduction in the number of subvented beds: “We had more trouble in A&E last week with overcrowding and waiting times. After demanding meetings with management, one reasons we were given is that there has been a measurable slowdown by the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) in contracting beds.”

However, an ERHA spokeswoman said there should be no cutbacks because the subvention budget had not been slashed since last year: “Where some of the confusion arises is that, if someone dies, we don’t necessarily renew the contract on that bed. We seek the most suitable bed for the next patient, which may be different depending on the level of dependency.”