Drunk with dead rabbit slept in maternity ward

There was an unexpected arrival at one maternity hospital when mothers- to-be and mothers with newborn babies woke to find they were sharing a ward with a man who had wandered into the unit and fallen asleep in a spare bed.

It was later discovered the man was carrying a blood-stained dead rabbit in his coat pocket.

The HSE has carried out a full security audit into the serious security breach at Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise.

The man was discovered by a nurse doing her rounds.

Security and gardaí were called and escorted the man to the A&E department, where he was found to be suffering the after- effects of alcohol.

After being checked out he was removed from the hospital grounds, but less than an hour later was observed climbing back in over a surrounding wall, and when located was causing uproar in a public ward.

At that point, the dead rabbit was discovered.

A source revealed: “It seems the guy was out on the town for the night, had a few too many and just wanted somewhere to lie down.

“He apparently got in through a door that was supposed to be locked but wasn’t, lay down, and conked out in the first free bed he saw, which just happened to be in the maternity ward.

“There is absolutely no way people should be allowed wander in off the street into any hospital. The nurse who found him was gobsmacked.

“At first she thought it may have been a partner of one of the new mums who had been allowed stay overnight, but when she woke him she soon discovered it wasn’t.”

It is understood that, after the two incidents, a complete security audit was carried out on the maternity unit and hospital grounds and an investigation put in place to discover how the man gained entry to the unit and fell asleep for up to six hours unnoticed.

The HSE confirmed: “Staff at the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise were alerted to an incident in the maternity department in the early hours of Saturday morning, 16 August.

“The incident involved a member of the public, who gained access to the hospital. The gardaí were alerted.

“A small number of patients were disturbed while sleeping by the incident, which occurred over a short period of time.

“The hospital apologised to all those patients who witnessed and were disturbed by the incident.

“The hospital has reviewed security measures for the entire hospital campus and is addressing the issues identified.”

G4S, which provides security to the hospital, was unavailable for comment.