Call to scale down all non-emergency care as medical staff 'exhausted' amid Covid surge

'Our fragile health services are being held together at the moment by an exhausted nursing workforce,' said IMHO general secretary, Phil Ní Shéaghdha. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The main hospital workers’ union has again called for all non-emergency care in Irish hospitals to be scaled down amid the surge in cases of Omicron Covid-19.

“Our fragile health services are being held together at the moment by an exhausted nursing workforce who are experiencing high levels of burnout,” Phil Ní Shéaghdha, general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, said: 

Our public hospital system is too small to cope with servicing emergency care, Covid care, and elective treatments. It is time for the State to step up and ensure that all capacity that can be gained from the private sector is used.

The INMO has been repeatedly calling for such a curtailment of non-emergency care in recent days as hospital cases have begun to spike alarmingly.

As of this morning, there were 656 people in hospital with confirmed cases of Covid-19, a drop of 26 from the previous day, New Year's Eve.

However, such cases have jumped rapidly from 378 in the week since Christmas Day, sparking fears the acute hospital system will become overwhelmed. Intensive care figures are still relatively stable, with 85 people receiving such care across the State as of this morning.

Nevertheless, Ms Ní Shéaghdha insisted that the HSE and politicians have “a responsibility to an exhausted medical workforce to ensure their workplaces are as safe as they can be”.

She said there “must be no tolerance for hospital overcrowding while a highly transmissible airborne virus is making its way around our hospitals”, adding that improvements to the air quality in medical facilities “must be a priority”.

Plea to avoid A&E

Meanwhile, the Mater Hospital in north Dublin has called on the public to avoid its emergency department due to the “extreme pressure” it is under.

In a statement, the hospital said that the current Covid wave, together with high numbers of ED presentations and ongoing staff absences due to Covid isolation, means that patients with non-urgent conditions are experiencing lengthy waiting times to be seen.

On the evening of New Year's Eve, the Mater had 47 Covid-19 patients, the second highest number in the State. At the same time, the hospital had one intensive care bed free.

“Where possible, the Mater advises patients with non-emergency conditions to seek assistance from other parts of the health service such as minor injury units or their GP,” a spokesperson said.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this causes to the public and thank them for their understanding and cooperation.”