A West of Ireland woman visiting a relative at University Hospital Galway during the weekend says she was concerned to see patients accommodated in a mixed gender ward at the regional hospital.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was worried about the arrangement from a dignity and safety point of view.
“There were 15 people packed into this ward, five on each side and three at the back. My relative was completely incapacitated. One of the male patients was wandering around in an agitated state saying he needed cigarettes. A woman patient was removing her clothes and pulling the commode over to herself without the curtains being closed. I called a nurse for her. Another man said he wanted to leave the ward. There were very sick people there and the majority of the patients were quite elderly.
“The overall lack of dignity was upsetting and I had concerns for my relative’s safety in this situation. She was very upset by it all. When I approached a staff member she said this policy was being introduced as a bed management system. Is it a policy of putting patients anywhere now, of putting them in a broom cupboard instead of on trolleys? Is it a way of fudging the numbers? Is this how we are planning to resolve the health care system? I really feel patients should be segregated.”
Cllr Padraig Conneely, the chairperson of the HSE West’s regional health forum, said the arrangement was not “good practice”. He presumed pressure of space was at the root of the problem.
“This is not an ideal situation and I imagine it was done as an emergency measure because of the shortage of beds at the hospital. It should not happen if at all possible. I presume patients are being put into any ward where there is space, for example if there are 10 men and there are five beds ready in a ward they will be put in there.
“It’s certainly not good practice, especially where elderly people are concerned. They deserve at least to have their dignity intact. We have to treat these people who are in the twilight of their lives with more dignity and with respect for their age, traditions and culture. That generation put great store on privacy.”
A spokesperson for the HSE West stated that Galway University Hospital has always had mixed wards in specialty areas, such as the stroke, coronary care and intensive care units, as per national and international norms. She added that the rationale behind the mixed wards in these areas is the specialist care required.
