Nurses want new body to tackle A&E overcrowding

A new body of experts must be formed to tackle the overcrowding crisis at hospital accident and emergency wards, it was urged today.

Angry nurses said it was time to replace the existing A&E Forum as it has failed to solve the problem crippling the country’s health service.

Oliver McDonagh of SIPTU said: “It is not enough to simply abolish the A&E Forum. It must be replaced by a more efficient process that has the right to make recommendations and oversee their implementation.”

He added: “The present situation in A&E units around the country is symptomatic of an ailing and uncivilised health service and a source of national shame.”

Mr McDonagh warned disheartened nurses were now expressing a desire to leave A&E services to work elsewhere.

“If this were to happen the current crisis would become a national disaster,” he said, as the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) reported 239 people were on trolleys awaiting hospital beds around the country.

Mr McDonagh said the nurses would be calling for a new body with powers to implement changes at a meeting with the A&E Forum tomorrow (Thursday, April 28).

“The body should review existing practices in A&E – such as the implementation of escalation policies; staffing levels; patient action plan on admission; availability of A&E Registrars with powers to discharge patients without having to wait for a consultant to sign off,” he said.

The current A&E Forum, which consists of nurses, doctors and other participants in the health services, has been meeting under the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).

Mr McDonagh said that nurses would be seeking a new review of the powers of bed managers as well as examining facilities for care of the elderly and out-of-hours general practice service.

He said a new working group should include representatives from employers and unions, and be headed by an independent facilitator.

The union’s nursing spokesman added: “The group should then make recommendations – with a commitment from the minister that they will be implemented – within a specific time frame.”

Sean Ryan, a Labour Party TD, said the Government must provide the 850 additional beds for elderly people as promised in 2002 to alleviate the pressures on A&E wards.

Mr Ryan claimed the extra beds for elderly patients, which were designed to free up acute treatment beds, were due to be made available this year.

However, he alleged that the plans for it had been shelved by the Health Department.

He said: “These beds would have made a dramatic impact on A&E departments.”