HIQA orders hospital to stop putting patients on trolleys near A&E

Nurses have welcomed an order stopping Tallaght Hospital from putting patients awaiting admission on trolleys near the Emergency Department.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said the move by the health watchdog HIQA "confirms and vindicates concerns about unsafe levels of overcrowding".

HIQA has told management in the Dublin hospital that patients cannot be placed on trolleys in corridors by A&E from September 1, as it poses a serious risk.

The INMO has described the move as a "turning point".

INMO General Secretary, Liam Doran, wants to see the rule extended to other hospital emergency departments.