Emergency department at Lourdes Hospital “severely overcrowded”

The emergency department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital

The Irish Nurses & Midwives’ Organisation has said that the emergency department at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda is severely overcrowded today, with 40 patients on trolleys awaiting to be admitted to a bed.

The INMO told RTÉ that one elderly patient has been on a trolley for the last five days in the department awaiting a bed and several patients are on their fourth day waiting.

The union’s industrial relations officer, Tony Fitzpatrick said the level of overcrowding within the department in Drogheda is dangerous and is putting the health, safety and well-being of patients and staff at risk.

He said that the department is short five nurses.The union is to seek a further meeting of the Labour Relations Commission to discuss the problems.

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.

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.

Local rail commuters facing possible disruption as Varadkar predicts “inevitable strike action”

The front page of today’s Irish Independent

Local rail commuters could face massive disruption shortly after Transport Minister Leo Varadkar warned of “inevitable strike action” at Irish Rail within weeks.

Commenting in today’s Irish Independent, Minister Varadkar said he was “not hopeful” that agreement could be reached between management and unions over plans to cut pay-roll costs by nearly €5m a year.

Talks between the company and unions at the Labour Relations Commission ended in failure before Christmas and Mr Varadkar told the Independent he could “see strikes happening” before March.

Fianna Fáil’s transport spokesman Timmy Dooley has dismissed Mr Varadkar as “defeatist” but the Transport Minister is adamant that annual payroll savings of €4.7m must be achieved at Irish Rail, as they were in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

“The last thing anyone wants to see is passengers disrupted and I would hope that some agreement can be reached but within the next one to two months, I can see rail strikes happening,” said Varadkar.