'Impossible and dangerous' conditions face Mayo University Hospital - INMO

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have moved to describe the potential looming winter conditions in Mayo University Hospital as 'impossible and often dangerous'.

The statement from the organisation sits against the backdrop of increased numbers of patients waiting on beds in the Castlebar facility.

On Friday, September 25, it was reported by the INMO that 14 people were being treated on trolleys. By yesterday (Tuesday, September 16), that number had gone up to 30.

While today has seen that total figure reduced to 25 patients presenting and awaiting care, the figure is still high by local and national standards.

Only four hospitals nationwide (University Hospital Limerick on 90, University Hospital Galway on 56, Sligo University Hospital on 50, and Cork University Hospital on 33) have a higher number of people than MUH.

With winter on the horizon, a period where hospitals typically experience a spike in those presenting to Emergency Departments, the INMO have outlined their concerns on the impact on an already-strained health system.

“The number of patients being treated on trolleys in the west over the last month has been alarming. It is becoming increasingly unsafe for patients and nursing staff alike," Colm Porter, the Assistant Director of Industrial Relations for the Western Region of the INMO, stated.

“Nurses and midwives in University Hospital Galway, Mayo University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital, and Letterkenny University Hospital are facing into yet another winter where they are going to be left in impossible and often dangerous care environments.

"We know that overcrowding of this nature has significant impacts on the long-term health outcomes of any patient that spends more than six hours on a trolley.  

“HSE West and North-West must outline precisely how they are going to radically reduce persistent and dangerous overcrowding in the region," he continued. "Our members are reporting that significant overcrowding, coupled with unmet recruitment and retention targets, are making it impossible to provide safe care to those who need it most."

“All barriers to providing safe care in the West must be removed. The HSE must listen to their frontline staff when they advise of these high-risk and dangerous situations arising from inadequate staffing and inappropriate working environments.”