More than 100,000 people have gone without beds in hospitals this year as research warns that patients’ lives are being ‘shortened’ as a result.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO) has been warning of ‘unprecedented overcrowding’ in hospitals since the early summer.
Now, the union has revealed 100,195 patients haven’t had access to beds so far this year, a record number at this point in the calendar. Of that figure, over 1,903 were children.
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: ‘These numbers have never been seen in this country before.
Ní Sheaghdha added: ‘We have ample research that tells us that already lives are shortened and mortality rates are increased just by being on a trolley. Just by that alone and the delirium that is associated with being in an environment that is constantly 24/7 active.’
The INMO’s president Karen McGowan, an advanced nurse practitioner, said ‘conditions are horrendous’ in the hospitals she has visited. She said: ‘I’ve seen people that have been trying to hold out for these operations that they have been waiting on, but they have become so sick and septic as a result of waiting for these.
‘And then they come into the emergency department and they are horrendously sick at that point where you’re needing to administer life-saving measures.’
Ms Ní Sheaghdha added that she believes Irish hospitals need a minimum of 1,500 additional nurses to deliver safe care and funding is € 8 million below what it should be for 2022.
The worst-hit hospital so far this year in INMO’s report was University Hospital Limerick which had 15,322 patients on trolleys.
Cork University Hospital followed with 10,107, Sligo University Hospital had 6,919, St Vincent’s University Hospital had 6,359 and Letterkenny University Hospital had 5,366 patients without access to beds.
The INMO is calling for the cancellation of non-urgent elective care in public hospitals and the use of private hospitals for such work instead. It also wants to see the introduction of retention measures, such as the provision of accommodation for essential workers including nurses and midwives, particularly in rent pressure zones.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha warned Ireland is failing to retain nurses trained here and is becoming increasingly reliant on recruiting staff from overseas. She said: ‘We are now having to recruit midwives from Ghana and other African countries. We know the situation in these countries… they desperately need their own essential workers.
‘But a country like Ireland, because of its bad policy, because of its lack of investment, is now going to these countries and taking their essential workers. We are forcing our own to emigrate, going to non-EU countries, and robbing them of their essential workers. There is something fundamentally flawed with that.’
Mary Tully, a public health nurse, added that healthcare services are being ‘stretched to the limit’ and colleagues are burning out from stress. She said: ‘There is a huge issue with staff shortages. There are 1,480 public health nurses to cover all of Ireland. There are 600 vacancies… It is not possible to provide a safe and adequate service with that number of vacancies.’
Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane urged the Government to use capacity in private hospitals as a ‘very short term’ measure to address the ‘crisis’. The Waterford TD told the Mail that the high numbers of patients on trolleys is ‘breaking all the wrong records’.
He remarked: ‘It’s not good enough… We need the investment in our hospitals but also in home care and community care.’
Duncan Smith, Labor’s health spokesman, called for health watchdog HIQA to ‘immediately’ inspect high-risk hospitals, remarking: ‘These hospitals are clearly overrun and understaffed. HIQA has the power to put the public’s mind at ease by investigating whether or not these hospitals are safe for patients and staff.’
The INMO has also revealed in another report that 65% of nursing and midwifery graduates are considering emigrating when they qualify this year.
Responding to the issues, the HSE said: ‘Increased demand in healthcare is due to a number of factors including the overall population increase and the elderly population increasing… It means people are living longer and healthier lives, but it does bring an increased prevalence of chronic illness year on year.
‘This winter the HSE is investing over €168million to support hospitals and community services to provide care during this challenging period. The focus for improvement includes reductions in the number of patients accommodated on trolleys, reductions in the number of delayed transfers of care, and reductions in overall length of stay within the acute hospital, to support improved patient experience time for all patients, and a particular Focus for those patients aged over 75.
A spokesman for the Department of Health last night told Extra.ie that procedures and operations could be canceled due to capacity issues in hospitals. He said the department is working with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund to find ways to address the issues, including increased use of private hospitals, funding weekend and evening work in public hospitals and providing virtual clinics.
He added that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly ‘acknowledges the distress’ that overcrowded emergency departments cause to patients, their families and staff.