'Patient and staff safety suffers': Over 800 patients wait for hospital beds

Eva Osborne

803 patients have been admitted to hospital without a bed on Tuesday, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said when activity is this high across the system, patient and staff safety suffers.

127 admitted patients were waiting for beds at University Hospital Limerick on Tuesday.

90 were waiting for beds at Cork University Hospital, 63 were waiting at St Vincent's University Hospital, and 60 were waiting at University Hospital Galway.

“Yet again we are seeing huge numbers of patients being admitted to hospital without a bed today. We know when activity is this high across the system, patient and staff safety suffers," Ní Sheaghdha said.

“INMO members have advised that they are very concerned about the age profile of patients being admitted to hospital on trolleys.

"In one location, a 90-year-old was waiting on a hard chair for over 45 hours before receiving a bed. In another location, over 72 per cent of admitted inpatients are over 75.

"The fact that older citizens who have been deemed sick enough for admission are being treated on trolleys, chairs and other inappropriate spaces for long periods is distressing.

“Staffing remains problematic across many sites. Unsafe staffing is undermining the ability of nurses and midwives to deliver safe and timely care.

"The continued use of trolleys and reliance on surge capacity mean that too many nurses are routinely working short-staffed.

In many hospitals, unfilled rosters are becoming the norm rather than the exception, creating increasingly unsafe conditions for both nurses and patients.”