Nurses warn lives are at risk due to UHG overcrowding
Nurses have called in the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) claiming lives are at risk as the emergency department at University Hospital Galway enters its seventh week on ‘Code Black’ – the highest level of capacity – with 52 patients at one stage consigned to trolleys.
There was a 13-hour backlog reported in the emergency department yesterday morning. At 4pm on Wednesday, one 90-year-old-patient had entered her 80th hour on a trolley awaiting a bed.
Staff were operating out of a single cubicle in the department to deal with life and death cases as all others in the 12-unit facility were taken up by patients in a queue for the wards.
The biggest category of patients seeking treatment in the Past few weeks are the frail and elderly, who have a complex set of needs and take longer to discharge due to the lack of home help and community care packages, explained Anne Burke, the industrial relations officer for western region of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
“My members contacted the HAS yesterday because of the conditions. We saw a team of doctors trying to assess a patient while others were trying to get past, two trolleys on either side and patients warned to keep their hands in for fear of being hit. It’s very high risk,” she insisted.
“We have been on Code Black – our highest escalation plan – without any drop in numbers for seven weeks, yet there is no winter vomiting bug and all beds are open. There is really no alleviation.”
At its worst over the Past few days, there were 52 patients on trolleys awaiting admission while there were two additional trolleys moved to each ward where they had no curtains, no access to call bells or oxygen.
“We have no additional staff to care for a lot of these frail and elderly patients. It’s just not safe.”
A new 75 single-bed ward has just been completed and builders are ready to hand over the keys next week. No approval has yet been given by with the Health Service Executive (HSE) or the Department of Health for funding to staff these beds.
“These would require 50-60 additional staff but the management keep saying they can’t recruit because of the moratorium on numbers and we won’t recruit nurses from England unless we have permanent positions. These need to be opened urgently to alleviate some of the pressure.”
A decision on a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed unit was due at the end of last March but hospital management has now indicated that a decision is unlikely until the end of the year.