UHG braced for staff crisis this winter
University Hospital Galway is facing into yet another crisis this winter as management struggle to fill up to 250 vacant nursing positions – piling additional pressure on already overstretched services.
Cllr Dáithí Ó Cualáin (FF) told a Regional Health Forum West meeting this week that “things had got so bad” that assistant directors of nursing were being forced to work on wards.
Cllr Ó Cualáin, who is a staff nurse at the hospital, sought assurances that additional staff were being recruited to deal with ongoing overcrowding at the Emergency Department ahead of an expected “winter surge”.
“There is a staffing crisis . . . we are short around 250 nurses, is my understanding,” said Cllr Ó Cualáin, adding that there seemed to be a “non-urgent approach” to addressing the issue.
“I have been told about a young person who was left sitting on a chair in ED and became acutely unwell, but there was no trolley to put him on.
“There are issues where patients are being told they are fit for discharge, but there are no community services available to them. They are being made to feel like they’re a burden and being pushed out,” he continued.
Nurses’ morale was at “an all-time low”, said Cllr Ó Cualáin, and unless something was done to improve the situation, there would be even more positions to fill.
“I have spoken to a number of nurses considering resigning, even though they’ve no new post to go to,” said the Indreabhán-based councillor.
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