CUH trolley figures labelled ‘worrying’

TROLLEY figures at Cork University Hospital (CUH) during last month, which was the busiest February at the facility since 2006, have been described as “worrying”.

CUH recorded the second-highest number of people on trolleys across the country during February, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s (INMO) TrolleyWatch figures.

There were 1,070 patients recorded on trolleys at the hospital last month.

Speaking to The Echo, INMO assistant director of industrial relations Colm Porter said levels of overcrowding have not diminished since January and that action needs to be taken in the run-up to St Patrick’s weekend.

“It is worrying to see that the February figures were the worst ever recorded in CUH since 2006,” he said.

“It is a worrying situation for staff and it is a worrying situation for patients. From our members’ perspective, their number one priority is to provide good-quality, safe patient care, but that’s made very difficult because of the overcrowded circumstances that they’re working in at the minute.

“We know when bank holidays occur, the number of people who are sick enough to be admitted to hospital who don’t have a bed rises. The fact that we are coming into March and we have two bank holidays coming up is a worry for our members.”

Mr Porter said that there are no signs of any improvements at CUH in terms of overcrowding.

“There is no let-up and there has been no let-up really since last summer,” he said. “We have been sounding the alarm for quite a while, and during the summer months we could have expected the kind of winter that we’re currently experiencing.

“It’s a lack of capacity within the community which makes it difficult to discharge patients into appropriate step-down or community facilities, and it means you see more and more people waiting on trolleys.”

Speaking about the need for more patient-facing staff, INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: “Directors of nursing and midwifery are now saying population growth has not been factored in, the increased daily activity has not been factored in, and they will not be able to stand over levels of care due to the recruitment freeze.

“If we are going to have any hope of turning things around for our public health service, then safe staffing must be the number one priority — nothing less will do.”

In addition to the 1,070 people on trolleys at CUH in February, there were 160 patients recorded on trolleys at the Mercy University Hospital and 101 patients recorded on trolleys at Bantry General Hospital during the month of February.

University Hospital Limerick recorded the most patients on trolleys across the country in February, with 2,247 patients left waiting for a hospital bed.

Nationally, 10,991 patients went without a hospital bed in February.