90% of nurses and midwives burnt out as 712 patients on trolleys

University Hospital Limerick is once again the worst affected facility, with 124 people on trolleys while Cork University Hospital (pictured) has 77. Picture: Dan Linehan

Two-thirds of nurses and midwives say that patient safety is often put at risk as a result of staffing issues.

The work and well being survey, published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), found that almost 85% said that staffing levels could not meet work demands.

INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said that unsafe staffing levels have become the norm.

“Staffing is the biggest issue currently facing the health service, and this is the time to deal with it," she said.

"The failure to legislate on safe staffing is putting nurses and their patients at very serious risk, and action needs to be taken to address this once and for all."

The troubling findings of the survey come as 712 patients are waiting on trolleys around the country, 25 of whom are children.

University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is once again the worst affected facility, with 124 people on trolleys while Cork University Hospital (CUH) has 77.

The INMO said yesterday that the post-bank holiday surge in hospital overcrowding was entirely predictable.

Today's survey has laid bare the impact overcrowding and understaffing has had on the mental health and wellbeing of nurses and midwives.

Almost 95% of respondents say that work is negatively impacting their psychological wellbeing.

Three-quarters have considered leaving their current work area and nine out of 10 reported being at least somewhat burnt out due to work.

INMO president Karen McGowan said the stark results of the survey show that things are not improving.

"There has been no opportunity for nurses and midwives to regain a stable footing since 2019, as it’s just been crisis after crisis in the health service since then," said Ms McGowan.

"A pandemic that was bookended by absolutely staggering levels of overcrowding means there’s been no recovery time at all."

She said that sustained stress over a period of years has "an absolutely crushing and traumatic effect" on people.

The same people are being asked time and again to step up and fill the staffing gaps and that is not sustainable, said Ms McGowan.

She said it was irresponsible that INMO members are not being protected from the long-term physical and psychological effects of stress.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha added: "The fate of the entire health service is dependent on those people deciding to stick it out for another month or another year, whatever they feel they can do."