INMO warns of ‘tough winter’ ahead for Cork hospitals

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has warned of a “tough winter” ahead for acute hospitals in Cork, saying that it expects to see a winter as bad as, if not worse than, what we experienced last year.

The organisation previously reported that November last year was the worst November on record for overcrowding at Irish hospitals, describing it as a “chaotic” month.

It reported that more than 11,000 admitted patients nationally were left without beds at Irish hospitals in each of the months of November, December, and January.

Cork University Hospital (CUH) had the second highest level of overcrowding of all hospitals in the country for all three months.

Speaking to The Echo, INMO assistant director of industrial relations Colm Porter raised concerns about the winter ahead at hospitals in Cork.

“The INMO Trolley Watch has been ongoing for a significant number of years and it’s been obviously very accurate in predicting what the winter looks like,” Mr Porter said.

“And over the summer months, we had seen across the board very high trolley numbers and that tends to mean that we’re in for a tough winter.”

The comments from Mr Porter come following a meeting of the Emergency Department Taskforce earlier this week.

“Why we called on the HSE to organise that meeting was around renewing the solutions to reducing overcrowding,” he said.

Yesterday, there were 67 admitted patients waiting for beds at hospitals in Cork. 

“One patient on a trolley is too many patients on a trolley," Mr Porter said.  “All the medical research suggests that if you are waiting on a trolley for a prolonged period of time it can affect your mortality rates,” he said.

“The concern is really about that trend that we’ve seen for the summer months and if that trend continues as it has in previous years then we’re expecting to see a winter as bad as if not worse than what it was last year.” 

Last winter, Cork University Hospital had the second-highest level number of admitted patients awaiting beds of all hospitals in the country for the months of November 2022, December 2022 and January 2023. 

There were 1,334 patients on trolleys at CUH over the month of November; 1,355 patients on trolleys at the hospital in December; and 1,145 on trolleys at the hospital in January.

“In comparison to last year, there is a reduction [in the numbers on trolleys in Cork]. You have to recognise that in terms of across Cork, there is definitely a reduction,” Mr Porter said.

“It’s still high, to say that 67 people who are sick enough to be admitted to hospital but don’t have a bed...even if that was one patient it would be unacceptable. So, it may be slightly down but there’s still a lot more work to be done.” 

He said that overcrowding has “obviously impacted” members and raised concerns about recruitment and retention.

“There are renewed efforts going on to try and get people to join the acute hospitals across Cork but if you’re continually working in conditions that are overcrowded and understaffed it’s a very natural reaction to have a think about whether or not there’s a potentially better job elsewhere.”