A leading nursing union official has warned that the recruitment ban on frontline hospital staff, such as nurses and midwives, must be lifted and closed beds must be opened at University Hospital Galway to resolve the ongoing problems at the facility’s emergency department.
Noreen Muldoon, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s industrial relations officer in the west, fears the “crisis situation” which occurred there two weeks ago when 51 patients spent the night on trolleys could recur if action is not taken.
“Our members struggled to cope with a crisis situation whereby 51 patients spent the night lying on trolleys in and around the department. Forty patients, including five children, were cared for overnight in the actual emergency department with only two nursing staff available to care for them. Members were trying to provide care in an impossible situation which only allowed them to provide the bare necessities. This is totally inappropriate and unacceptable to our members. The other 11 were cared for in the medical assessment unit with nursing staff being brought in from home to provide care during the night.”
She says 28 patients were on trolleys at the regional hospital one night last week while on Tuesday night of this week there were five patients being accommodated there.
“This situation of people being on trolleys is going to arise over and over again unless the recruitment ban is lifted and beds are opened. The hospital is constantly understaffed. It is not just people who have left, retired or gone on career break who are not replaced. People on long-term sick leave and maternity leave are not replaced either. This puts huge pressure on remaining staff who are trying to provide the same level of service.
“There are 12 nurse manager posts vacant from ward areas and 26 staff nurse vacancies. This leaves every ward, department and unit acutely short staffed. As a direct result the emergency department does not have adequate staff to provide care for the patients awaiting admission on trolleys.
“There are currently 21 beds closed in the hospital, including six paediatric beds. Another two wards have reduced capacity from a seven day to a five day service and this is impacting on the number of beds available to the emergency department.”
The fact that UHG’s budget is “way down” this year and that a number of beds are being closed in Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar will impact greatly on the provision of services locally, she believes.
“Mayo General is closing 16 beds. This means that patients will be left longer waiting or will arrive in Galway which will impact further on UHG.”
Ms Muldoon says the other adverse effect of the moratorium on staffing is that there are fewer jobs for healthcare workers.
“Almost all the newly qualified nurses from last year in Galway have emigrated, mainly to the UK but also to Australia and America where they are received with open arms. We had quite a number of international nurses working here too but they have gone to Australia.”
