Nurses protest over depleted staffing levels at Mullingar hospital

Nurses taking part in the INMO protest at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar. Picture: Bob Morrison

Dozens of nurses have protested outside the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar over depleted staffing levels, which they warned could “compromise” patient safety and care in the coming weeks.

Around 150 hospital staff joined the lunchtime protest to highlight concerns over 50 vacancies out of a complement of around 400 nursing staff.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said the vacancies, which include 29 permanent positions, will see the hospital falling short of the minimum staffing levels required for safe care.

The HSE cyberattack had impacted on the recruitment process over the past six to eight weeks, which has since resumed, but the INMO said the staffing shortfall was not likely to be bridged until possibly September.

Over the weekend, 12 nurses arrived from India but they are unlikely to be in post until mid-September and “small numbers” of Irish and EU nurses may also be recruited. Assistance has also been sought from St Francis Private Hospital.

Calls by the union to restrict services, close beds, and divert scheduled care to private hospitals until the shortfall is addressed have been rejected to date, although the issue is expected to go to the Workplace Relations Commission.

INMO assistant director of industrial relations Albert Murphy said the Covid pandemic and recent HSE cyberattack had made it “an incredibly challenging year” for staff on the ground and an urgent solution is needed.

“Mullingar has a significant number of vacancies," said Mr Murphy. 

"Nurses have gone through Covid and the cyberattack but they are now short-staffed and those numbers are massive for a hospital of that size.

“The crisis in the hospital is going to be between now and the end of August and probably into September.

“Hospital management need to urgently recruit the necessary staff, but they need to be realistic about the hospital’s current capacity. Work needs to be scaled back to ensure safe care. That means closing beds in the short run and making decisions on which care has to be prioritised,” he added.

A spokesperson for the hospital and Ireland East Hospital Group said they regretted Monday’s protest and understood the “frustration” of nursing staff given the “ongoing pressure on all healthcare workers” since March last year.

Declining to comment on the number of nursing vacancies, they said recruitment was a “priority for hospital management with additional staff commencing over the coming weeks”.

Nurses protesting at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar. Picture: Bob Morrison

The hospital group also confirmed that the emergency department was “extremely busy” on Monday and urged patients not requiring emergency or urgent care to instead attend their GP or the local out-of-hours GP service. It follows similar appeals in recent weeks.

On Monday, 13 patients were on trolleys at the regional hospital, according to trolley watch figures collated by the HSE and INMO.

“The emergency department continues to be extremely busy with seriously ill patients presenting who have complex needs and require admittance,” said a spokesperson.

“The hospital is seeing a high number of patients who do not require urgent care or admission and, in these instances, there may be delays for some patients being seen in the department."