Nurses 'afraid overcrowding will cause major incident'; 601 on trollies

Nurses have said they are afraid a "major incident" will happen as a result of emergency department overcrowding.

It comes as Dublin's Beaumont Hospital prepares to hold a work-to-rule later this month over the issue, and others get set to ballot on the proposal.

A total of 601 people are awaiting hospital treatment on trolleys in emergency departments and wards around the country today, the first time the figure has risen past 600.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said the worst was Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda where 45 people were waiting for proper beds on wards – 39 on trolleys in emergency departments and another six squeezed in corridors and wards.

The HSE confirmed that Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda was "off call" for a time yesterday afternoon, meaning they were closed to admissions.

The overcrowding is now at levels never seen before and has surpassed crisis points which sparked previous commitments and rapid responses from governments in 2006 and 2011.

The next worst hospitals are University Hospital Limerick with 45 patients waiting access to a proper bed and in Beaumont 41.

Nursing staff at the north Dublin hospital’s emergency unit, which frequently experiences some of the highest numbers of patients on trolleys, voted 100% in favour of industrial action over the crisis.

They plan to hold a work to rule on January 27 where all essential patient care will be provided but non-essential or administrative work will not be done.

A lunchtime protest is also planned outside Beaumont this Friday and the nurses have committed to escalating to work stoppages if the situation in the emergency unit does not improve.

'Beyond tolerable'

Lorraine Monaghan, INMO industrial relations officer, said the action was being taken in an attempt to end severe and unsafe overcrowding.

“This situation is beyond tolerable for patients and staff,” she said.

Nurses at a number of other hospitals are also being balloted over a coordinated response by the INMO to the bed shortage crisis including Drogheda, Naas, Mullingar, Galway and the Mid-West (Limerick) Hospital Group.

The reasons for the record overcrowding are down to a number of factors, medics claim.

Among them are the delayed discharge of patients to outpatient care, nursing homes or their own homes where they receive care in the community, the closure of wards and cuts to community and public health nursing which is compounded by the traditional increase in demand for care after Christmas and in mid-winter.

Liam Doran, INMO general secretary, refused to accept that dispersing sick patients one at a time from overcrowded emergency units to wait in wards as a potential solution.

“What they are talking about is an initiative that has been tried in the past and failed in the past,” the union leader said. “It does not deal with the problem, it passes it on.”

When Minister for Health, James Reilly gave a commitment that by the end of 2012 the need for patients to be left waiting on trolleys in corridors would be ended.

Mary Harney, when running the health portfolio, was forced in 2006 to declare the overcrowding crisis a national emergency when figures were below 500.

Today’s figure of 601 is up 38 on yesterday.

'Patients are at risk'

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher said: “These figures from the INMO are further evidence of the escalating crisis in our Emergency Departments, which shows no signs of abating and is raising serious concerns about patient safety.

“Hundreds of patients, many of them who are elderly and frail, are being left for days on end on trolleys in A&Es, corridors and makeshift wards without privacy or dignity, as frontline staff struggle to cope without the necessary resources or support.”

Mr Kelleher called on the Oireachtas Health Committee to be convened to discuss ways of dealing with the crisis.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar convened the emergency department taskforce involving consultants, senior doctors, Health Service Executive directors and the INMO to find solutions to overcrowding before Christmas.

Lorraine Monaghan said: "Patients are at risk, and our members are extremely concerned that a major incident will occur as a result of the unsafe situation (caused by) overcrowding levels and insufficient staffing.

"There needs to be investment; re-opening of closed beds, investment in community support (and) an immediate and aggressive recruitment campaign."