Polish man’s death raised to highlight language difficulties

A POLISH man travelled from Dublin to his native country where he suffered a heart attack — despite Irish nurses telling him hours earlier that he was too sick to travel.

The 48-year-old’s death was raised at the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) Conference by a Dublin nurse who was trying to highlight the difficulties being experienced by nursing staff when communicating with non-English speakers. The man had specifically asked could he return to Poland that day and the nurses had told him that it wasn’t advisable.

A translator had been called by nurses to speak with the man who had just undergone an angiogram procedure.

Annette O’Higgins, Dublin East Coast Area, said: “We thought we were doing our best and that he understood the information.”

Nurses also spoke of foreign patients suffering further delays in A&E due to language problems while elderly patients also had problems understanding overseas hospital staff.

The ongoing battle with infectious disease was a popular theme at the two-day conference with the lack of isolation rooms for infected patients a common complaint.

One delegate from the Carlow branch said: “We are just fire fighting when it comes to infectious disease. We are understaffed and overcrowded and in those circumstances, patients with MRSA are put in wards with up to six other people.

“The cross contamination risk is huge. The few private rooms that are there are given to private patients and not used as isolation units.

“It’s all about adding up coppers you see,” she said.

A motion was passed by delegates calling for an immediate review of infection control measures in Irish hospitals including the increased need for isolation suites.

Paddy Gallagher, a nurse from the Dublin North branch, said that surgical and medical patients were regularly being placed in mixed wards where infection risk was huge.

“Hospitals are operating capacity levels that aren’t safe and so everyone is on top of everyone. If there was such an underspend by the HSE in capital funding last year, it should have been spent on isolation units and basics like having 24 hour cleaning in hospitals. All healthcare professionals should be trained in infection control — not just nurses.”

Joe Tully of the INO Executive Council pointed out that it wasn’t surprising that there was a growing infection rate “when hospitals are at 85% capacity and bed numbers have been cut by a third in the past 20 years”.