Overcrowding in hospitals putting nurses 'in harm’s way', says Cork union rep

Almost a quarter of all nurses and midwives have attended their GP over workplace stress, according to a new survey, as a Cork union representative says overcrowding is leading to threatening and even violent behaviour from patients.

The data comes from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) annual staff survey, which was released at the launch of its 106th annual conference in Wexford this week.

Nationally, 69% of respondents reported that their work was impacting their physical health, and 24% said they had attended their GP due to work-related stress.

The INMO’s assistant director of industrial relations, Cork’s Colm Porter, told The Echo the current levels of overcrowding are some of the worst the union has seen since it began calculating trolley numbers almost 20 years ago.

“The INMO conference is happening against the backdrop of some of the worst levels of overcrowding we’ve seen in Irish hospitals since we started calculating trolley numbers in 2006,” he said.

According to INMO figures, 5,960 patients have been admitted to hospital without a bed so far this year in Cork. 

“That’s a huge concern to us, the effect it’s having on patients but also the effect it’s having on members’ own health,” said Mr Porter.

Of the national survey respondents, 55% reported that they had experienced aggressive behaviour in the workplace, and one in five stated that they had experienced physical violence.

“Overcrowding creates a melting pot of sorts,” said Mr Porter.

“There should be zero tolerance to any kind of abuse to nurses and midwives, whether it’s physical or verbal abuse, but people getting care in inappropriate or overcrowded places can lead to them feeling agitated, like they’re not getting the care they should be.

“Unfortunately, it tends to be the nurse or midwife apologising to these patients for the overcrowded conditions, and that puts them in harm’s way.”

In the union’s survey, 49% of respondents reported they felt pressured to work additional hours or shifts, and 65% had worked between one and 10 hours unpaid each month.

“There’s a lot of people staying beyond their contracted hours to ensure that patients are getting the care they need — there’s huge amounts of goodwill from our members, but the survey results show that goodwill might be wearing a bit thin”, said Mr Porter, adding that running a health service based on goodwill “was not a sustainable position”.

More than 90% of respondents expressed concern about compromised patient safety, and 49% said they already felt exhausted in the morning at the thought of the working day ahead.

Mr Porter said that these issues had been going on for a long time.

“Obviously, we had the recent ballot of our members for industrial action over staffing levels, and the agreement we came to contained a pathway to address some of these staffing issues.

“Now, we really have to see if that delivers.

“Part of the agreement was that it would be reviewed in six months, and if our members aren’t seeing the impact from the HSE and Government, we will end up in the same position again; we may need to ballot our members again for industrial action.”

Just over 61% of respondents stated they had considered leaving their work area in the past month, citing workplace stress as the primary reason.

“This is absolutely pushing people to go abroad.

“People working overseas is always going to happen to some extent, and nurses and midwives from Ireland going and gaining experience elsewhere is good for the individual and for the health service, but they need to know that if they come back, they’d be coming back to somewhere they can practise that’s safe for them and for patients.

“The survey shows that isn’t the case,” said Mr Porter.

“Ultimately, it is still a great career for any young person to go into, but these ongoing issues of overcrowding and staffing levels have to be a priority for the HSE to address, because if they don’t change, they will potentially dissuade people from becoming a nurse or midwife, which is the last thing the country’s health service needs.”