Hospitals At "Breaking Point" With Fewer Beds Now Than In The Early 80's Says Emergency Doctor

Naas General Hospital Is advising people with non urgent care to seek assistance from their GP or Pharmacist

There are fewer beds in Irish hospitals now than there were in 1981, that's according to Emergency Medicine Doctor Lisa Cunningham, who says the system is 'at breaking point.'

It comes as records were broken yesterday across Irish hospitals, after the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation counted 931 people on trolleys.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, 838 patients are on a trolley in Irish hospitals today.

28 patients are on Trolleys in Naas General Hospital today, while 40 patients are without a bed at Tallaght University Hospital.

Due to high levels of COVID-19 and flu in the community, visiting restrictions are currently being implemented in Naas General Hospital.

No hospital is unaffected by overcrowding today with patients on trolleys or chairs in emergency departments or elsewhere in every hospital.

Overcrowding within emergency departments will be discussed by cabinet ministers at a meeting this morning.

Naas resident and INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha commented: “We again repeat our call for the current approach of telling people just to avoid hospitals to cease.

"The focus should be on providing supplemented emergency supports until the end of February," she insisted.

“It is time for the Government to call this what it clearly is – an out and out crisis. A crisis warrants an extraordinary response from Government and the HSE.

“When nurses who are at the frontline dealing directly with patients and often the ones apologising to patients and their families on behalf of the State because of the chaotic conditions are calling on the Government to take action including but not limited to the immediate cessation of all non-urgent activity and the introduction of a time-limited mask mandate, then it must not continue to fall on deaf ears.

“Our members are treating patients in the most undignified conditions. This is not the type of care they should be providing in a country that has the resources to provide additional capacity and support.

“Nurses and other healthcare staff cannot continue to weather this storm without adequate support and protection from their employer, it will add to the increasing intention to leave of staff which is exactly what this health service does not need," she added.