Protesting nurses hit out at A&E workload

NURSES at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, who are staging a lunchtime stoppage tomorrow due to emergency department overcrowding&, said cases have spiralled to 1,156 over the past six months, compared to 831 for the same period last year.

The HSE has introduced a new system where patients are moved to wards when the accident department begins to clog up with patients on trolleys. The INO say the arrangement is putting an extra workload on nurses in other wards.

They also claim the system was put in place without consultation and attribute the rise in patient numbers at emergency departments to the downgrading of such services at Nenagh and Ennis hospitals.

HSE national director John O’Brien said periodic overcrowding at emergency departments had to be addressed.

INO industrial relations officer Mary Fogarty said: “This (protest) decision follows a recent ballot for industrial action which members of both unions overwhelmingly voted for.

“This action will commence early in the New Year if the HSE fail to address the causes of overcrowding at the hospital.” The purpose of the lunchtime protest tomorrow, meanwhile, is to highlight to the public the impact on acute hospital services in the Mid West region which the union says is caused by the failure of the HSE to put in place appropriate and essential resources prior the commencement of reconfiguration, she said.

“This failure had led to severe overcrowding at the hospital which is unsafe for patients and staff.”

According to the INO, the main causes of the difficulty are:

* The closure of 15 beds (ward 4C) in the MWRH Limerick due to lack of funding and the HSE moratorium.

* Closure of another 15 beds at St John’s Hospital Limerick due to lack of funding and the HSE moratorium.

* Permanent closure of acute in-patient beds (approximately 65) at Ennis and Nenagh hospitals since the reconfiguration of acute services in the Mid West region.

Ms Fogarty said the public was invited to attend at the hospital between 12.30-2pm to support the campaign by nurses.

Meanwhile, the INO’s “trolley watch” has showed a marked increased in patient numbers at the Mid-Western Regional emergency departments since services in the region were centralised there.