Overcrowding at UHL "out of kilter with the time of year" - INMO says
They are calling for the recruitment freeze to be reversed
THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation are calling for additional healthcare funding, so that the recruitment freeze can end - to ease overcrowding across Irish hospitals, where University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is almost consistently the most overcrowded.
Today (July 10, 2024), there are 127 patients without beds at the Dooradoyle hospital.
So far this year, there have been more than 67,452 patients - including 1,418 children, admitted to hospitals around the country.
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: "The HSE’s latest trolleys figures do not reflect the reality of the sheer volume of patients who are being treated on trolleys or in other inappropriate bed spaces coupled with the fact that nurses and midwives are constantly working short in our hospitals in the middle of a government-backed recruitment freeze is absolutely unacceptable.
“It is simply not true to state that there have been no patients on trolleys in University Hospital Waterford, when INMO figures show that 225 patients have been on trolleys in Waterford so far this year.
"Presenting zero trolleys in certain locations is doing a serious disservice to patients who have found themselves being treated in inappropriate bed spaces in these hospitals this year and the staff who are trying their best day in and day out to provide safe care.
“Over €1.5 billion of additional funding is being allocated to the health service for the remainder of this year in order to maintain ‘existing levels of service’. The reality of this is healthcare workers are still going to be working in dangerous conditions, unable to treat patients in a safe and timely manner in overcrowded emergency departments and corridors.
"We are over the midpoint of the year and there is still a recruitment freeze of vital nursing and midwifery posts in place with no plan to drastically recruit and retain. This matter is now before the Workplace Relations’ Commission and needs to be dealt with as an urgent matter."
Speaking directly about the crisis in UHL, Ms Ní Sheaghdha added: “Over 127 patients are being treated on a trolley in University Hospital Limerick today. This type of overcrowding is completely out of kilter with the time of year.”