THE Mid West Hospital Campaign marked International Nurses Day on Friday with a demonstration outside St John’s Hospital to demand safe staffing levels in the region’s hospitals and the reopening of the emergency departments in St John’s, Ennis and Nenagh hospitals.
Peter Brady, an activist for the campaign in Limerick, said that University Hospital Limerick has consistently been the most overcrowded hospital in the country since the decision to downgrade the emergency departments at Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s.
“That decision was defended at the time as being for clinical need, but in reality it reflected an unwillingness on the part of the government to invest in regional emergency services. The argument about clinical need is null and void now, when you see the disaster ‘reconfiguration’ has been for UHL and the Midwest region through continued lack of investment.
“It is unfortunate, but fitting that intensive care nurses have had to start industrial action on International Day for Nurses. The Mid West Hospital Campaign supports them one hundred per cent. They haven’t had a break since early 2020, since the start of the pandemic.
“We owe them everything for helping to save us from an apocalyptic outcome during the pandemic, precisely because of how few ICU beds we have in Ireland. We lag behind nearly every developed country when it comes to intensive care capacity. This is the product of decades of underfunding by successive governments,” he said.
