The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organsiation say that there are 26 people waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Galway today, a decrease of more than half in under a day.
Yesterday, UHG’s overcrowding was the worst on record, with 58 people on trolleys. The hospital was the second most overcrowded after Cork University Hospital.
While the number has decreased significantly today, the total number of people who have been on a trolley at UHG in the first four days of this week is now 151.
Speaking yesterday, the INMO General Secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha said:
“These figures confirm that hospitals cannot cope, the system is unable to manage patient flow and the burden is falling on nursing and medical staff who are forced to work in intolerable conditions. Staff are constantly apologising to patients for the inhumane conditions in which they are forced to care for them and they cannot see any reprieve as we leave the winter period. We are now in the second week of April and the figures are getting higher.
It is time for the government as a whole to recognise that the health service is in crisis and requires immediate emergency intervention. These numbers are the equivalent of three whole hospitals of patients for whom there are no beds. This is a national emergency inflicting indignity and unnecessary suffering on patients and subjecting nursing and medical and other staff to extraordinary health and safety risks.
The INMO is again calling for the protocol applying to any emergency to be applied immediately. This should include utilisation of the private sector, cancellations of all elective day and inpatient procedures and concentration on de-escalation procedures. There must be an immediate focus on realistic recruitment and retention measures for nursing staff to prevent this situation continuing to deteriorate.”
