'Nobody wants to see their relative being cared for this way': Majority of nurses say they have treated patients in inappropriate settings

The majority of nurses have treated patients on trolleys and seen their safety and dignity compromised, according to a new survey by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

It comes as a Cork INMO representative says HSE plans for 18 new beds in CUH “won’t scratch the surface” of the overcrowding.

Colm Porter, INMO assistant director of industrial relations, told The Echo: “Every day, patients in CUH and the Mercy are either receiving care in trolleys or elsewhere in the hospital, in wards that are already at full capacity — the survey results are absolutely reflective of the situation in Cork.

“As reflected in the survey, the majority of nurses have seen patient safety incidents directly related to being treated on trolleys — that can be something like a patient falling out of a trolley, or a delay in receiving care or receiving appropriate treatment.

“There’s also patient dignity issues: People on trolleys can receive care with a complete lack of privacy, and nobody wants to see their relative being cared for this way.”

The survey completed by nurses in Ireland’s acute hospitals was carried out from January 19 to January 31, a period when 934 patients were admitted to Cork hospitals without a bed — 717 in CUH, 190 in the Mercy and 27 in Bantry.

According to the union, 84.37% of respondents nationally have cared for patients in inappropriate settings within the last year, and 85.28% of these respondents believe that patient care and safety were compromised in these settings.

Some 71.94% of respondents have observed patient safety incidents directly related to inappropriate care settings, such as falls and medication and treatment delays, and the vast majority of respondents stated that increasing bed capacity and recruiting more nursing staff were key to addressing the issue of hospital overcrowding.

Yesterday, there were 45 patients on trolleys in CUH and 12 in the Mercy. Some 524 patients have been treated on trolleys across Cork hospitals so far this month, while 2,191 were treated last month.

Mr Porter said that though trolley numbers have decreased slightly in Cork, it was important not to get desensitised to the number and remember that each number represented a real person.

“Our point of view is that one patient receiving care in an inappropriate space is one too many — saying there’s less people on trolleys in Cork than in January is not an acceptable measurement of care being delivered in a safe setting,” he said.

He added that the programme for government did not reassure unions that the situation was being taken seriously, saying: “If there was ever a need to give a renewed focus to this issue, it’s now. The outcome of this survey should re-incentivise the Government, because there is a real lack of detail in that programme.”

He said that the 18 beds that are planned to be delivered to the CUH this year, according to the HSE’s 2025 National Service Plan, “won’t scratch the surface”, adding that “the average hospital bed per capita is still a way down in Ireland in comparison to elsewhere in Europe”.

“Our members are calling for increased bed capacity and more nursing staff to address the overcrowding,” he added.