NURSES at the Mid Western Regional Hospital are unable to cope with the demands placed on them,
According to the INMO, there were 46 patients on trolleys in the hospital on this Tuesday morning in the emergency department, 14 in a transit lounge and nine on corridors.
They blame the reduction in beds and nursing resources, including 80 nursing vacancies at the hospital, the closure of 80 acute beds in the region and what is understood to be a further 55 acute beds next week.
A HSE statement on Tuesday advised patients to visit GPs due to increased pressure on staff, in an effort to reduce waiting times.
Mary Fogarty, INMO industrial relations officer. argued that Advanced Nursing Practitioners (ANPs) have been required at the hospital for over six years.
“We are the only band one hospital not to have ANPs in place.
“The inability of the HSE to fill critical front-line nursing vacancies, due to the moratorium, is impacting on the quality and safety of care and leading to bed closures”.
The daughter of an elderly patient currently on a trolley at the hospitals transit ward, contacted the Limerick Post to express concern.
“It’s a disgrace… you swear we were in a Third World country. Just moving patients with serious ailments in and out of A&E.
“If it wasn’t for the excellent care from the nursing staff it would be unbearable”.
She pointed out that her mother had been transferred from A&E when it became overcrowded on Monday night, and the transit ward was opened.
“It’s very distressing for my mother and the other patients here that are being moved all over the place because of what seems to be a lack of resources”.
When this reporter visited the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, the A&E waiting area was full, the transit ward was still full of trolleys, but there were no trolleys on any of the corridors in the hospital.
