Nurses' body issues overcrowding warning as 25 patients are on trolleys in Portiuncula

Some 25 admitted patients were on trolleys at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe this morning (Tuesday).

Of these, six were on trolleys in the Emergency Department, while 19 were on trolleys in wards elsewhere in the hospital.

At the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar, meanwhile, there were eight patients on trolleys awaiting a bed, with all eight in the Emergency Department.

The figures were issued by the Irish Nurses and Midwives' Organisation (INMO), which said, nationally, a total of 803 patients were being treated "on a trolley, chair or in another inappropriate space" today.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the current situation represented a threat to patient safety.

"Yet again we are seeing huge numbers of patients being admitted to hospital without a bed today. We know when activity is this high across the system, patient and staff safety suffers," said Ms Ní Sheaghdha.

"INMO members have advised that they are very concerned about the age profile of patients being admitted to hospital on trolleys.

"In one location a ninety-year-old was waiting on a hard chair for over 45 hours before receiving a bed. In another location, over 72% of admitted inpatients are over 75.

"The fact that older citizens who have been deemed sick enough for admission are being treated on trolleys, chairs and other inappropriate spaces for long periods is distressing.

"Staffing remains problematic across many sites. Unsafe staffing is undermining the ability of nurses and midwives to deliver safe and timely care. The continued use of trolleys and reliance on surge capacity mean that too many nurses are routinely working short-staffed.

"In many hospitals, unfilled rosters are becoming the norm rather than the exception, creating increasingly unsafe conditions for both nurses and patients."