Concerns raised about pressure on Midland A&Es

Concerns have been raised this week about the possible curtailment of emergency departments opening hours at two midlands hospitals this week, which the INMO said would have a drastic effect on the service provided to patients. The INMO said this week it fears that the HSE is planning to curtail emergency services in Mullingar and Portlaoise hospitals, which would put immense pressure on the emergency department at Tullamore hospital if it was forced to care for patients from Westmeath, Longford, Laois and Offaly. The INMO fears the HSE is planning to reduce the emergency departments at Mullingar and Portlaoise hospitals from a 24 hour service to a 12 hour service, opening from 8am to 8pm, with patients to be catered for at Tullamore emergency department between the hours of 8pm and 8am. INMO representative for the region Lorraine Monaghan said: “This would spell disaster if you were to reduce emergency department hours in one or two hospitals in the midlands. It would put more pressure on nurses and frontline staff.†Ms Monaghan said the union has not received any confirmation from the HSE that it plans to reduce the opening hours at the two emergency departments but it believes it is on the agenda. “We understand there is a review of the services in the midlands, including A&E services and we believe the matter is on the agenda. It would spell disaster if they were to downgrade either, or both, A&E departments because you can see the numbers going through and the level of overcrowding that is there. A 24/7 A&E service is vital to the people who use these services. Tullamore A&E is suffering from overcrowding, there has been a dramatic increase in overcrowding levels in Tullamore. We believe it would not be safe for Tullamore to take on patients from Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath,†she said. Ms Monaghan pointed out that between 2009 and 2010 there was an 858% increase in the number of patients left on trolleys in Tullamore, increasing from 77 in 2009 to 738 in 2010, while in Mullingar the number of patients left on trolleys increased from 528 in 2009 to 1,900 in 2010, an increase of 260% and in Portlaoise there was a 30% increase in the number of patients on trolleys, increasing from 297 in 2009 to 385 in 2010. Ms Monaghan said the INMO is calling on the HSE not to reduce emergency department opening hours, to reopen beds to alleviate overcrowding and also to lift the moratorium on recruitment. Pointing out that there are 1,600 nursing graduates every year and that €90,000 is invested in educating each nurse, Ms Monaghan said it was a waste to educate nurses here for export. “They are being welcomed in the UK, Canada and Australia with open arms because their skills are highly regarded elsewhere. We need them within our system. We have seen a dramatic reduction in nurse staffing levels in recent years. This is continuing to drop as people are coming to retirement age and leaving the system, we're losing qualified nurses and graduates are not being given the chance to practice in Ireland. There is no foresight from the HSE in dealing with these matters,†she said.