HSE’s measures to cut trolley numbers won’t work, INMO chief warns

Measures being introduced by the HSE to deal with trolley numbers will not be effective, the general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), Phil Ní Sheaghdha has said.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha was commenting on targets set by the HSE to deal with overcrowding in hospital emergency departments.

The new emergency department target for the average monthly trolley count in hospitals is not to exceed 320 patients waiting for admission at 8am each morning and that no patient aged over 75 will wait more than 24 hours in an emergency department.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha told RTÉ radio’s News at One that for every patient who is on a trolley for longer than six hours, their outcome is significantly negatively affected.

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“The target should be to make sure that patients are not waiting for any longer than six hours on a trolley. That should be the target,” she said.

The continued high trolley numbers clearly indicated the problem was with the management of hospital overcrowding, she said.

“It is looking at a number and trying to massage and change the number and make it look a bit better, but actually not lifting the bonnet and changing what’s causing the problem.”

The issue was that more hospital beds, along with long-term beds, were needed as well as stronger primary care services to keep people out of hospital. HSE plans for more hospital beds were meaningless unless there was an improved recruitment and retention campaign because every hospital bed required nursing and health care assistance staff, she said.