11/04/2018

Nearly 600 Patients Waiting For Hospital Beds Today - INMO

Almost 600 patients are waiting for hospital beds today, April 11, according to Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) statistics.

The INMO trolley watch numbers show that approximately 595 people are waiting for hospital beds across Ireland today.

Cork University Hospital and University College Hospital Galway are the most overcrowded with 64 and 58 patients waiting respectively.

The figures are up slightly from yesterday's 591 waiting patients (10 April), and increased roughly 12% from Monday's (09 April) numbers.

The three day week (09-11 April) records 1,718 waiting patients, which is a huge 46% increase from the same three days last year that had a total waiting number of 1,173.

INMO General Secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: "These figures confirm that hospitals cannot cope, the system is unable to manage patient flow and the burden is falling on nursing and medical staff who are forced to work in intolerable conditions. Staff are constantly apologising to patients for the inhumane conditions in which they are forced to care for them and they cannot see any reprieve as we leave the winter period. We are now in the second week of April and the figures are getting higher. 

"It is time for the government as a whole to recognise that the health service is in crisis and requires immediate emergency intervention. These numbers are the equivalent of three whole hospitals of patients for whom there are no beds. This is a national emergency inflicting indignity and unnecessary suffering on patients and subjecting nursing and medical and other staff to extraordinary health and safety risks. 

"The INMO is again calling for the protocol applying to any emergency to be applied immediately. This should include utilisation of the private sector, cancellations of all elective day and inpatient procedures and concentration on de-escalation procedures. There must be an immediate focus on realistic recruitment and retention measures for nursing staff to prevent this situation continuing to deteriorate."



(CM/MH)

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