Saturday, 17 September 2022 | 4.2°C Dublin
Premium subscribers enjoy unlimited access to all articles. But there's more: discover your full benefits now.
On Wednesday morning there were almost 100 patients waiting for treatment on trolleys at Cork City’s two emergency departments.
THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said their mid-September ‘trolley watch’ figures should be seen as the clearest sign yet of the impending “winter chaos” to come in Irish hospitals.
T he organisation has again called for what it described as “meaningful and targeted interventions” to prevent another “predictable” winter of out of control overcrowding and cancellations of elective procedures.
The call has come after the Wednesday’s ‘trolley watch figures’ revealed there were 596 patients, including 20 children under the age of 16, without a bed in Irish hospitals.
This represented the highest daily total thus-far for September, with the INMO saying this brought the total number of patients waiting for a bed this week alone to more than 1,710.
Cork's essential reads in local news and sport, straight to your inbox every week
Enter email address This field is required Sign Up
In Cork’s two emergency departments there were almost 100 patients waiting on trolleys on Wednesday, 68 at the Cork University and 30 at the Mercy University Hospital.
The latest figures have come after the ‘trolley watch’ totals for August reached a record monthly high of 9,603, which including 919 and the CUH and 345 at the Mercy.
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the figures spoke for themselves, warning that unless urgent action is taken to address the issue “we are facing into yet another completely predictable winter crisis”.
“As the Dáil returns from its summer break the political system must intervene in the now predictable overcrowding which faces our members and their patients this winter,” said Ms Ní Sheaghdha.
She has again called on health minister Stephen Donnelly to publish a fully funded winter plan to coincide with the publication of budget 2023.
“We cannot wait for this situation to get worse until we see meaningful and targeted interventions. Next Monday’s meeting of the Emergency Department Taskforce is extremely important. Practical solutions and measures that arise from this meeting must be implement immediately in order to prevent this entirely predictable surge,” said Ms Ní Sheaghdha
“Over the coming months, we cannot see any obstruction when it comes to recruitment and retention measures. Nursing and midwifery vacancies need to be filled so that patients get the care they need. Unless action is taken now to stem the worst of overcrowding, we will be sleepwalking into another winter of crisis for our members and their patients,” she added.
A Mediahuis Website © Independent.ie