44 on trolleys in Lourdes Hospital today

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has the highest number of patients being treated on trolleys in the country today.

Figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show there are 44 people on trolleys in the Lourdes today.

Beaumont Hospital in Dublin has the second highest at 36.

Earlier this week the hospital came in for severe criticism after seven ambulances were backed up waiting to check-in patients at the hospital due to the overcrowding problem.

Lunchtime protest held by staff at St Mary’s Drumcar

Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) held a lunchtime protest over budget and staffing cuts at St Mary’s Drumcar at lunchtime.

The INMO said this was the first step in its campaign to improve Intellectual Disability Services nationally.

Industrial action was voted upon by 99% of staff back in June, just days after a HIQA inspection found major non-compliances in nine of the 10 areas inspected at the St John of God-run residential centre.

Senator Mary Moran was amongst those to attend the protest and she said she was happy to support the staff.

“I was delighted to attend the protest and  show my full support for the nurses,” she said.

“Today’s protest was the first in the INMO’s Campaign for excellence in Intellectual Disability nursing. In my opinion it is imperative that the nurses in St Mary’s Drumcar receive the full support from management they deserve. I have witnessed first hand the excellent care, dedication and service that the nurses in Drumcar provide on a daily basis. Following the recent concerns raised in HIQA reports in relation to Drumcar, staff have felt their morale at an all time low despite much of the problems raised in the reports outside the control of the nursing staff.

“It is imperative that management engage with the nursing and care staff to listen to concerns. I am also extremely disappointed that despite calls made to meet with Mr John Pepper CEO of St John of God’s Services he has yet to agree to a meeting to discuss concerns. I will now raise the issues I discussed with nursing staff today with Minister Kathleen Lynch.”

Senator Mary Moran with staff on their lunchtime protest today

More on trolleys in Lourdes Hospital than anywhere else last month

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda had the highest number of patients on trolleys in the country during the month of July.

That’s according to new figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

The group claim there were 769 patients being treated on trolleys at the Drogheda hospital last month.

In total there were 6,715 patients on trolleys nationwide last month, an increase of 21% on July 2014.

The number on trolleys in Drogheda represented 11.5% of the national total in the month.

Adams fears health crisis in Co Louth

Adams has raised concerns over patient safety at the emergency department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital

Local TD Gerry Adams insists he has deep concerns at a potential crisis in health services in County Louth following a meeting with INMO representatives earlier this week

On the back of the meeting the Sinn Féin leader again made a call for an independent, root-and-branch investigation into all care facilities in the State for citizens with intellectual disabilities.

He said: “I held a very informative meeting with INMO representatives on Tuesday at which serious concerns within the health services in Louth were made clear.

“There are serious concerns over patient safety in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Emergency Department in Drogheda.

“These problems were evident under the previous Fianna Fáil-led government and now we see failure by Fine Gael and Labour and Health Minister Leo Varadkar to address the issue.

“There are considerable frustrations that after a decade of overcrowding we still have patients lying on trolleys.

“The resulting stressful working conditions in the Emergency Department is having a major impact on staff at Our Lady of Lourdes, with resilience training recently undertaken at the hospital.

“The issue of acute beds is being directly and adversely impacted by a lack of resources in care for older people, in particular the lack of fully staffed step down beds.

“INMO representatives confirmed that Louth and its environs are the most underfunded and under resourced regions in the state in terms of the provision of services for older citizens.

“An ageing population, lack of cohesive or long-term policies, and years of underfunding under the current and previous Governments have seen long term care/respite beds and services reduced.”

Gerry Adams pictured with Tony Fitzpatrick of the INMO and David Gray of St Mary’s Drumcar

Mr Adams said the HSE was making cut after cut but said these instructions were coming from a higher level.

“The HSE appears focused on reducing staffing levels, meeting fiscal targets and implementing budgetary constraints, rather than ensuring the provision of quality care to patients. This is being driven at a national level and co-ordinated by the HSE’s so called service improvement teams.

“A failure to operate the Fair Deal scheme effectively and the lack of staffed stepdown beds has led to significant delays in patients being discharged from acute hospital beds. This is compounded by a failure to allocate funding to follow need rather than budget schedules.

“Enabling more people to stay at home requires that the serious deficits in Home Care packages are immediately addressed, as well as having sufficient funding ring fenced for housing adaptations all year round.

“Last month, members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation at St Mary’s, Drumcar, balloted for industrial action over budget cuts and inadequate staffing levels which required the intervention of the Labour Relations Commission.

“A HIQA report in June into the unit in St. Mary’s, which has 16 patients with intellectual disabilities, raised very serious concerns and highlighted major non-compliance in nine of the 10 outcomes inspected.

“Lack of sufficient funding is having a huge impact at this facility.

“While there may be longer term plans for moving people with Intellectual Disabilities into community based settings, there are also concerns as to what this will mean if sufficient funding does not follow the patient.

“Quick-fix plans based on firefighting problems as they come to light are not in anyone’s interests .

“I also discussed with the INMO representatives wider concerns that exist around facilities for people with Intellectual Disabilities in light of several critical HIQA reports.

“In this regard, I wish to repeat the calls I have previously made for an independent, root-and-branch investigation into all care facilities in the State for citizens with intellectual disabilities.”

Mr Adams added that currently there are 11 beds closed in the Louth County Hospital in Dundalk and four more at Boyne View House in Drogheda due to nursing shortages.

INMO vote for industrial action at St Mary’s Drumcar

Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation at St John of God North East Services, St Mary’s, Drumcar, have voted by 99% in favour of industrial action due to budget cuts and a reduction in staffing levels. The INMO intends to serve notice of industrial action this week.

The Organisation has written to HSE Director General, Tony O’Brien seeking an investigation as to why the HSE Service Improvement Team has sought a reduction in staffing and skill mix at the same time as the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has stated that insufficient staffing levels are having a negative effect on residents within the service, which provides residential and day care for people with disabilities.

The INMO is gravely concerned at the recent HIQA report. Budgets have been cut consistently over the last 5 years and staffing levels reduced to unsustainable levels. Despite a negative HIQA report, management at St John of God Services have written to the INMO in recent weeks indicating their wish to:

1. Further reduce staffing and skill mix within the service;
2. Introduce a cost containment plan as they have overspent by two million euro to the end of May 2015; and,
3. Have non registered staff administer medication instead of the Registered Nurse in Intellectual Disability (RNID).

Speaking about the matter, INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Tony Fitzpatrick said: “The problems currently highlighted within these two centres are widespread especially with regard to inadequate staffing. However nurses, and other frontline staff, go to work every day and, to the best of their ability, use their uniquely acquired skills to provide good quality care and service to their clients.

“They come in on days off, work late, work through their shift without lunch or breaks, while always striving to deliver maximum comfort and quality of life to those in their care. They do this in the face of dwindling resources and extra demands but they do their job with compassion and professionalism which is at the core of disability nursing.”

The INMO and other unions have attempted to engage with management to address concerns over the last 6 months in order to develop workable solutions to ensure the provision of quality care to service users. They are awaiting a date for a meeting further to requests for same.

Mr Fitzpatrick concluded:  “The INMO is gravely concerned at what appears to be an attempt by St John of God Services to de-professionalise the provision of services to people with intellectual disability.  Our members have indicated that they will stand up for the rights of the clients within the services to receive the best possible care.

“We have highlighted our concerns around the Services’ attitude to the role of the Registered Nurse in Intellectual Disability (RNID). We believe any dilution of the RNID role results in a diminution of services to clients.”

Adams expresses “grave concern” at Our Lady of Lourdes’ waiting list

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda

Local TD Gerry Adams has expressed “grave concern” at the waiting list at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

His comments come after the highest ever number was recorded on the outpatient waiting list in April.

Commenting on the matter, the Sinn Féin president said: “On Wednesday morning there were 465 citizens on trolleys in Emergency Departments across the state. Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda had the second highest with 41 patients waiting. The previous day it had the highest number in the state with 48 patients waiting on trolleys.

“These figures are as bad as any we witnessed during the winter.

“There is also a serious problem with waiting lists for outpatients and inpatient procedures in Our Lady of Lourdes.”

An examination of statistics on the National Treatment Purchase Fund reveals that at the end of April there were 11,386 outpatients attending Our Lady of Lourdes. Of these 4087 had been waiting up to three months; 2432 had been waiting for 3-6 months; 3599 were waiting 6-12 months and 1267 have been waiting between one and two years. One person was still waiting after two years.

Of those waiting between one and two years 94 were gynecology patients, 552 were ENT patients and 56 were for general surgery.

Inpatient figures make equally grim reading. At the end of the month there were 1242 patients waiting for an inpatient procedure. 286 of these have been waiting for more than a year.

“These waiting list figures are unacceptable,” said Deputy Adams.

“In a properly managed and resourced health service patients should not have to wait as long as these statistics indicate for important medical procedures.

“The scale of the problem within the health service is evident in the report this week by the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation which revealed that between January and April of this year there were 35,135 occurrences across the state of patients on trolleys.

“That is an increase of 26% on the same period last year and the worst figure since the INMO started keeping records.

“Across the state we now have the highest ever recorded number of citizens on the outpatient waiting list.

“At the end of April there were 412,422 citizens on the outpatient waiting list. Of these 72,270 have been waiting for more than a year.

“It is also expected that official figures to be published shortly will show that the HSE will be over budget by at least €100 million for the first three months of the year.

“Clearly the government’s health strategy is not working.

“Key to tackling this problem is more investment, including additional bed capacity. There is a need to reopen many of the 2,000 beds closed in the last four years and the recruitment of more nurses to replace the 5,000 nursing posts that were cut as a result of government policy.”

50 patients on trolleys in Lourdes Hospital today

The A&E of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is the most overcrowded in the country at present

There are 530 patients waiting on trolleys in hospitals around the country today with Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital once again the worst affected by the overcrowding.

According to figures compiled by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), there were 50 patients waiting in the emergency department of the Drogheda hospital this morning, five more than in the Beaumont and 13 more than in University Hospital Limerick.

Overcrowding problem continues at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital

The A&E of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is the most overcrowded in the country at present

There were 363 patients waiting on trolleys in hospitals across Ireland today, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, with Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda the worst affected.

In total there were 40 patients waiting on trolleys in the Drogheda hospital, two more than Beaumont in Dublin.

The figures are a fall from yesterday’s 518 patients who were on trolleys but INMO General Secretary Liam Doran says the overcrowding problem “continues unabated.”

He told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland show: “The trolley situation contains to be very, very bad and care continues to be compromised.”

The capacity to move patients waiting to be discharged to other care facilities “is still not adequate,” he stressed.

Yesterday local TD Gerry Adams said the overcrowding situation was “deeply worrying.”

He accused the Government of failing the health service and added: “The Minister needs to introduce additional urgent measures, including allocating additional resources. That means opening closed beds, recruiting additional staff and providing for more community homecare nursing support.”

Adams calls on HIQA to investigate overcrowding at Lourdes Hospital

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda

Local TD Gerry Adams has called on HIQA to investigate the situation at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.

The Sinn Féin leader’s plea comes at a time when concern is growing over overcrowding in hospitals across the State.

Figures published this weeks showed that new records were set for the number of patients in trolleys and on hospital wards waiting on a bed.

On each occasion the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda was the biggest offender and Adams feels the issue must be addressed.

“There are serious safety concerns about conditions at Our Lady of Lourdes with the Emergency Department witnessing very severe overcrowding,” he said.

“Figures today from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, reveal 42 patients waiting on admission, with 37 of these lying on trolleys.

“This is the highest number of inpatients without beds in any hospital in this state. The situation clearly puts enormous pressure on the Emergency Department and represents a threat to patient safety and welfare.

“In 2011 along with my party colleague Peadar Toibin TD and Dr Ruairi Hanley, I wrote to HIQA raising similar concerns and asking the Authority to carry out an investigation. That was not done.

“I have today again written to HIQA to ask them to launch a full safety assessment of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and the potential risk it represents to patients and to publish its findings immediately.”

Overcrowding problems worsen with Lourdes Hospital again the worst offender

The A&E of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is the most overcrowded in the country at present

The overcrowding crisis in our country’s hospitals continued to grow this morning with 601 patients on trolleys or wards waiting for admission to a bed.

That is a new record and surpasses yesterday’s previous record of 561, according to the figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO).

Once again Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda had the highest level of overcrowding nationally with 45 patients waiting – although this was less than the 50 from 24 hours earlier.

Union officials representing nurses and midwives at Our Lady of Lourdes are seeking urgent intervention from the Labour Relations Commission over conditions there.

Staff voted in favour of industrial action last October but suspended strike action planned for November to allow for talks at the LRC.

INMO Industrial Relations officer Tony Fitzpatrick said he is making contact today with the commission because of the worsening situation in the hospital.

The Health Service Executive has acknowledged that there have been “sustained pressures” in the hospital’s emergency department over the past few weeks.