INMO: Low staffing putting patients in danger

Patients' lives are being put at risk because of the dangerous staffing levels in Irish hospitals, according to the nursing union, the INMO.

It made the statement after new research showed nursing staff levels in Irish hospitals are significantly lower than in UK hospitals.

For example, in the average 25-bed Admission and Assessment Unit, Irish hospitals have 13 less nurses than British hospitals.

The independent study carried out by Dr Kevin Hurst, editor of the International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, found that in the average 25-bed surgery ward, Irish hospitals had six less staff than British hospitals.

Medical wards and elderly care units each had three less staff than UK hospitals.

General Secretary of the INMO, Liam Doran said our health service watchdog, HIQA, needs to do more to ensure Irish hospitals have safe staff levels.

Mr Doran said: "HIQA is only beginning to grow into its comprehensive role. It has to be able to walk into any house and say 'What are your staffing levels? What are your skills mix? What is your patient dependency? What is your patient throughput?'.

"Noone is doing that now. Management is under great perssure in the health system. Budgets, budgets, budgets, cut, cut, cut and our fear is that those types of negative issues are happening all the time, we are not correlating them."