Hospital ‘mulled removing sinks to fit beds’

A DUBLIN hospital considered removing fixtures and fittings from wards in order to make more space for beds, according to the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO).

The attempt to create extra bed space was confined to public wards because private health insurers such as VHI do not permit more than five beds per private ward in a public hospital.

The claim was made by the INO’s deputy general secretary Dave Hughes. The organisation has called on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to revoke any policies which involve the erection of extra beds above the stated ward/unit complement. It is understood sinks were among the items under consideration for removal from the wards.

Mary Rowe, a nurse at Ennis General Hospital in Co Clare, said putting extra beds on wards compromised patient care. It also jeopardised the health and safety of staff and increased the risk of hospital-acquired infection, she said.

“The stated ideal distance between patient beds is 2.7 metres. Reduced space leads to unsafe standards of practice,” she said.

Ms Rowe said limited space between beds created difficulties for nurses in finding room for a commode or in manoeuvring a hoist between beds to handle and reposition patients at risk of developing pressure sores.

“As an advocate for patients, failure to adhere to standards due to insufficient bed spacing will lead to pressure sores, chest infections, aspirational pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis, muscle wasting, depression and low levels of mobility and dignity, which will require further medical and nursing interventions and long hospital stays,” Ms Rowe said.

It also added to higher costs for the HSE.

Ms Rowe said insufficient space led to manual handling injuries for nursing staff, including back injuries and muscular skeletal injuries.

Patients were also more susceptible to hospital-acquired infection, including superbugs such as MRSA, in overcrowded rooms, she said.

In 2004, more than 6,000 patients were found to have MRSA infection on their bodies, in over 20 hospitals.

Pressure on hospital beds has not eased despite the launch in 2004 of the Government’s 10-point plan to solve the A&E crisis.

Yesterday, the Irish Medical News reported the medical admissions unit (MAU) at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, designed to take the pressure off A&E, has hit a wall. The unit was initially successful but a shortage of beds has seen its progress severely hampered.

The special admissions units are widely seen as a major part of the solution to the A&E logjam.

However, Patrick Plunkett, consultant in emergency medicine, says the St James’s flagship unit is beginning to malfunction.

“The difficulty is if there are no beds on the ordinary ward, they stay in the MAU, which means of course that it knocks back on us,” he said.

“So as far as I’m concerned it is not working. It could work. It should work. But it’ll only work when there are sufficient bed spaces in the hospital.”