Navan hospital staff 'at breaking point', says INO

Nurses at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan have warned that patients' lives will be at risk this winter because the staff are overworked and "at breaking point". The Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) said that Meath's health services are "cracking under the strain of bed closures and a staffing embargo" and they have not ruled out industrial action if serious changes are not made to current issues at the hospital. According to the organisation, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has refused to fill vacant posts at the hospital, leading to longer working arrangements for existing staff. The INO said nurses on maternity leave are not being replaced, placing extra workloads on other staff. The INO said that 18 medical beds had been closed at Our Lady's, emergency department overcrowding had reached a record level of 17 on 24th September, staff vacancies were unfilled in hospital and community services, and staff were at "breaking point". INO industrial relations officer Tony Fitzpatrick said that the organisation's members working in Meath were at breaking point because of health cuts and the embargo on filling jobs operated by the Government and the HSE. He said that this was clearly evident in the overcrowding going on within the emergency department of Our Lady's Hospital "which reached a record high of 17 patients lying on trolleys last Thursday". He said the overcrowding was so severe at one point that patients had had to be moved out of the emergency department and into day wards to wait for an in-patient bed. "The problem is exacerbated by the fact that 18 medical beds are closed at Our Lady',s" Mr Fitzpatrick added. "As well as the bed closures, many nursing posts in Our Lady's Hospital and community services have not been filled due to the staffing embargo imposed by the HSE and Government," he went on. He said that local management was not to blame for the posts remaining vacant as they had identified the vacancies and sought approval to fill them from the HSE Area Employment Monitoring Unit. The local management and community services had been asked to manage an impossible situation with budgets and staffing levels being "slashed" by the HSE. In many posts, nurses were doing two jobs in order to keep up the service to the public. Mr Fitzpatrick said: "However, this cannot continue and something will have to give". He warned that "drastic action" would have to be taken to ensure that all vacancies were filled and beds opened. "Otherwise, with the onset of winter and the 'flu season, coupled with the outbreak of the swine 'flu epidemic, patients and staff will continue to suffer as the situation deteriorates".