INMO to ballot for industrial action in Limerick

The number of patients on trolleys nationally once again headed over 600 on Monday, at 606. File picture

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) will ballot for industrial action in Limerick on Tuesday as nurses are unable to take leave due to the low staffing in the intensive care unit.

Nurses are extremely concerned about safety in the hospital, according to INMO assistant director of relations Mary Fogarty.

“The lack of consistent safe staffing in the intensive care unit (ICU) is having a detrimental impact on the physical and mental well-being of our members working in this unit and their patients,” she said.

“Hospital management has failed to provide an appropriate contingency plan to address the nurse deficits in the ICU and the enablement of outstanding annual leave, time off in lieu to be taken and/or paid to nurses as requested.” 

Funding 'will increase staffing'

Meanwhile, the University of Limerick Hospital Group is applying to the HSE for funding of €5.2m to boost services in smaller local hospitals in an effort to address ongoing problems. 

Hospital group manager Colette Cowan said the requested funding will increase staffing for the medical assessment units at Ennis, Nenagh, and St John’s hospitals.

These units take patients referred from GPs, Shannondoc, and ambulances, but do not accept walk-in emergency patients.

“Additional staff would allow us to extend the operating hours, and open the medical assessment units in Nenagh and St John’s to seven days a week," said Ms Cowan.

The bid also includes permanent funding for the Ennis unit to maintain extended hours and weekend services.

Responding to a parliamentary question from Social Democrats health spokeswoman Róisín Shortall, Ms Cowan said 12,797 patients were seen in these units last year.

Separately, there were 104 people on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick on Monday.

The Midwest Hospital Campaign group described the figures as "more failures for the people of Clare, Limerick, and North Tipperary".

A spokeswoman called for someone to be held accountable for the continuing crisis. 

She pointed to a Government report last week which said hospital funding should be allocated based on population.

“This campaign has constantly highlighted, following our own research, the need for additional emergency departments across the region based on population numbers, rural settings, and the deprivation index,” said the spokeswoman.

The number of patients on trolleys nationally once again headed over 600 on Monday, at 606, including 70 at Cork University Hospital.

There were 24 waiting for a bed at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, 20 at University Hospital Tralee, and 10 in Tipperary. Waterford University Hospital had just two waiting.