Trolley figures skyrocket in mullingar hospital as inmo call it a national emergency
A total of 152 patients spent were treated on trolleyes in the Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar last week as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) call increasing levels of overcrowding in emergency departments of hospitals all over the country to be declared a national emergency.
The situation is compounded by the fact that almost 800 patients continue to occupy acute beds, although clinically discharged, because of the absence of appropriate continuing care/rehabilitation beds or adequate homecare nursing services.
The problem is exacerbated still further by the acute shortage of nursing staff, arising from five years of flawed manpower planning policies, which has left many hospitals, even when resources are available, unable to find the required additional nursing staff.
INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said “The health service is now faced with the most significant overcrowding situation since the INMO began counting trolleys over ten years ago.
In order to ensure patient safety, appropriate standards of care and manageable workloads for nursing staff an emergency initiative is required which requires whole government support.
The initial €25 million, allocated in the Service Plan for 2015, while welcome is simply not enough to address the shortcomings which now exist following five years of underfunding and the absence of a proper manpower plan.
The government can prevaricate no longer, patients can suffer no longer, staff cannot continue in this intolerable situation and strong, urgent action is required immediately”.
The figures for patients on trolleys for the last week at Mullingar hospital:
Tuesday December 16: Total 18
Monday December 15 : Total 35
Friday December 12: Total 24
Thursday December 11: Total 24
Wednesday December 10: Total 28
Tuesday December 9: Total 23