Record 931 patients on trolleys amid calls for return of mandatory mask wearing
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More than 931 patients were on trolleys or chairs on Tuesday morning waiting for a hospital bed, the highest number since records began in 2006, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said.
The number includes 26 children admitted to hospital but unable to get a bed.
The record numbers and the pressures on emergency departments prompted INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha to warn that patients are being treated in “inhumane and often unsafe conditions”. She called for the return of mandated mask-wearing in congregated settings.
The INMO's call for mandatory mask wearing was backed by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. ICTU General Secretary, Owen Reidy said “The annual winter health crisis is clearly worse this year due to a number of factors. We are very concerned for our frontline workers in our hospitals and in other settings. For hospital management to tell the public to avoid hospitals is not an acceptable situation. With the current increase in respiratory-type illnesses it is imperative that the highest health and safety standards are observed in all our workplaces to protect all workers and members of the public."
In Munster hospitals, patients are particularly badly affected by the overcrowding crisis, with more than 200 unable to get a bed.
- Some 97 people at University Hospital Limerick were waiting for beds, along with 74 at Cork University Hospital, 40 at University Hospital Kerry and 31 at the Mercy University Hospital.
- Some eight patients were on trolleys at each of Ennis and Nenagh hospitals even though they have no emergency department, and 18 were waiting at Tipperary UH in Clonmel.
- Waterford University Hospital once again had no patients on trolleys however in contrast to the stresses facing emergency care elsewhere.
“Today’s numbers require immediate and serious intervention from the government,” Ms Ní Sheaghdha said.She dismissed calls from the HSE for the public to avoid EDs as unsafe.
“We do not need those at the top to describe how we got here; we need to know what exactly the plan is from today until the end of February,” she said.
Nurses are disillusioned, she said. “We are not seeing unsustainable overcrowding confined to a handful of hospitals, each hospital is facing significant overcrowding challenges, a trend which has continued to escalate since late summer. Our members are treating patients in inhumane and often unsafe conditions,” she warned.
Ms Ni Sheaghdha has called for the return of mandated mask-wearing in congregated settings, saying this is a Government decision.
“We know that one of the main pressure points in our health service is the rise of respiratory infections. Asking people to return to mask-wearing in busy congregated settings is a simple measure,” she said.
“Over the coming days, we need to see real tangible plans and decisions at a national level about the ensured safety in our acute public hospitals.”
The INMO and other frontline healthcare workers have been warning for months that early January would see a crisis.
Consultant Physician and Geriatrician at UHL Professor Declan Lyons also warned that the overcrowded conditions in the hospital now lend themselves to mistakes and “adverse clinical results.”
The hospital group has made the decision to cancel all outpatient appointments scheduled for Tuesday.
He echoed the INMO’s concerns saying conditions are “inhumane” and dangerous for patients.
Prof Lyons told RTÉ on Tuesday the pressures date back to 2009 when, under a State policy, the smaller emergency departments at Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s hospitals in Limerick were closed.
This issue has been repeatedly raised by advocacy group Midwest Hospital Campaign. They held a vigil outside UHL on Saturday, raising concerns and calling again for services in these smaller hospitals to be boosted.
In response to the INMO call for mandatory mask-wearing advice, a spokesman for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the Government takes its advice on any population-wide measures such as a mandatory mask mandate from the Chief Medical Officer and the Covid Advisory Group. “No such advice has been recommended,” he said.
At present mask wearing is advised on public transport and in healthcare settings and mask-wearing is also advised based on individual risk assessment.
Vulnerable individuals are advised to consider wearing masks in crowded indoor settings, such as may relate, for example, to social gatherings or other activities and events.
With regard to public transport, this is a setting where physical distancing can be difficult and where those who are more vulnerable to the severe impacts of COVID-19 do not always have the discretion to avoid. For these reasons, the wearing of face masks on public transport continues to be advised, he said.
Sinn Féin's spokesperson on Health David Cullinane has said moving to a mandatory mask wearing order is for the Chief Medical Officer to decide upon.
“It is up to the CMO and officials to advise government. I have never moved ahead of public health and I think we need to abide by it when it is given,” he told the Irish Examiner.
He said the HSE’s Winter Plan is clearly not working with many targets set by Minister Donnelly not being met.
He called for capacity in the private sector to be utilised to ease the pressure on the health service.
Mr Cullinane has said he has written to the chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Health seeking it be recalled as soon as is possible to discuss what he called a crisis in hospitals.
He said it is vital that everything possible is done to support those on the frontline and to relieve pressure on public health services.
Mr Cullinane said it was important to hear directly from the HSE as to what additional supports are being put in place and if its winter plan is sufficient to deal with the current emergency.
Labour Party health spokesperson Duncan Smith said the situation as calamitous yet entirely predictable.
"It is genuinely hard to believe overcrowding is worse now than during the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. However, here we are, with frontline health services in crisis all over the country."
"What we need to see is the emergency resourcing of out-of-hours GP services immediately and our primary care services given all they need to relieve the pressure on our emergency departments.
He added: "Private hospitals have again offered to help and while this may come at a cost, the HSE needs to use every option available as we understand we have not hit peak flu season yet."