INMO Calls For The HSE To Intervene As 631 Patients Go Without A Bed In Irish Hospitals

The organisation says the level of activity seen in hospitals this Christmas period is unprecedented

Some 631 patients are without a bed in Irish hospitals today, according to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The INMO is calling on the HSE to intervene to protect the wellbeing of hospital staff.

New figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show 631 patients are waiting on trolleys in Irish hospitals today.

That's coupled with 690 patients admitted to hospitals with cases of Covid-19.

The INMO has called on the HSE to protect the physical and mental wellbeing of nurses and midwives.

The organisation says the level of activity seen in hospitals this Christmas period is unprecedented.

It's also highlighted the extent to which it's affected hospital staff, who are exhausted and burnt out.

Part of that solution, according to the INMO, is making sure the public and private sectors work together in the coming weeks.

Naas resident and INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: “Our hospitals have never seen this level of activity at this time of year with high levels of overcrowding impacting care in hospitals large and small. Our fragile health service is being held together by an exhausted and burnt-out workforce. We know anecdotally that many rosters are depleted due to illness.

"We know that our public health system is not equipped to deal with providing emergency care, COVID care and elective care at the same time. The HSE must outline both locally and nationally what resources they are utilising from the private sector from now until the end of February. The health service, both public and private, must work as one.

“Our members are working in situations that are extraordinarily dangerous. There is now a real concern that nurses cannot provide safe care when conditions are so difficult, and rosters so stretched.

“The HSE must do everything that is necessary to protect the physical and mental wellbeing of our nursing workforce at this challenging time.”