Health minister says reforms will address staff safety concerns at Mayo University Hospital

THE Minister for Health believes that new reforms introduced in Mayo University Hospital will address the high trolley figures and help it to operate at a higher and safer level.

Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill was on a tour of Mayo yesterday (Monday) where she visited both Mayo University Hospital and Ballina District Hospital while also launching The Sunflower Children’s Hospice with the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation in Castlebar.

The Minister met with management and staffing representatives in Mayo University Hospital during the visit and she welcomed the implementation of a series of reforms which have taken place over the past six to eight weeks.

Speaking to the media in the TF Royal Hotel in Castlebar, Minister Carroll MacNeill said she has had a ‘real focus on Mayo University Hospital’ since becoming minister and believes the reforms will provide patient safety in Mayo and make it a ‘good consistent, safe and comfortable place to work’.

Trolley reduction

THE Fine Gael TD for Dún Laoghaire Rathdown said that in recent weeks the number of patients on trolleys in the Castlebar hospital has reduced but expressed concern that 80 percent of the time during 2025, Mayo University Hospital was operating at unsafe levels. She believes reforms will address this but at the moment the figures are not acceptable for the people of Mayo.

“Mayo in the last four days has had practically nobody on trolleys but in July and August when there is no flu it was 80 percent in the red. How can I explain it when in Connolly [Hospital in Blandardstown] all year along there is nobody on trolleys,” she said.

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“If your baseline is 80 percent of the year you are in the red, you cannot deal with something new that happens and that is a huge problem. That is why I have put a focus on making sure our hospitals and emergency departments are running clear and smooth and that is the responsibility of the whole hospital.

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill visited a number of locations in Mayo on Monday. Pic: Conor McKeown 

“What I see when I look at the trolley figures is three regions doing consistently well. Frankly when I come to the west and north west I see consistent redness in the numbers throughout the year and it is something that will have to be addressed by the region. It is not right that the people of the west don’t have the same quality experience as the people of Dublin or the north east or the south east.

“I see some excellent Model 3 hospitals right across the country and really good patient flow with no trolley pressures who are delivering services. I want to see the same consistent excellent standard for Mayo and we are seeing the beginning of that.

“I believe if Mayo University Hospital continues to work in the way it has been and continues to introduce the reforms and get benefits of additional staff I have made available to it ... we have the opportunity here in Mayo to have an absolute standard barer Model 3 hospital for this region and the west and frankly what the people of Mayo deserve,” she said.

Reform process

As part of the reform process, the Chief Nursing Officer, Rachel Kenna visited MUH on October 6 and spent a day looking at different staffing issues and ways to improve them. She recommended the recruitment of 18.5 whole-time equivalent (WTE) staff for the hospital despite the INMO stating that 28.5 WTE nurses are needed to meet the safe staffing levels outlined in the HSE’s own Safe Staffing Framework for Emergency Departments.

Minister Carroll MacNeill acknowledged that nursing staff in the hospital have been ‘stressed out and burnt out’ but again reiterated her belief that the hospital is not understaffed when compared to other model three hospitals. What is needed, she said, is a greater deployment of staffing resources.

“The whole nursing complement is available to Mayo University Hospital and has a higher nursing complement than many other Model 3 hospitals. The whole nursing complement has to be used to meet the needs of the people when they present to the hospital and what they need and when they need it. To my mind patient safety is the absolute priority and I know the IMNO advocate for that basis,” she added.

Flu vaccine

MINISTER Carroll McNeill also called on members of the public to avail of the flu vaccine this winter. She said based on the southern hemisphere experience she expects it ‘to hit early and hit hard’.

“I would ask everyone in Ireland to get the flu vaccine because we have seen from the southern hemisphere that it is an early flu and is here already. We will get over it but there will be many people who will get it and get properly sick as a consequence of it and will put pressure on our hospitals. That will mean the cancellation of somebody else’s elective surgery. That is why these things matter so please get the flu vaccine,” she said.