Nursing unions will demand the immediate reopening of closed beds at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital when they meet management this afternoon to discuss weekend overcrowding in the hospital's accident and emergency department.
The crisis, which at one point saw more than 40 A&E patients awaiting beds and ambulances having to wait up to three hours to get their trolleys back, eased yesterday, and by tea time just 10 patients were awaiting beds.
However, the hospital confirmed that further elective admissions scheduled for today had been cancelled to allow the situation to be brought more fully under control. Elective surgery was also cancelled yesterday.
The reopening of 18 beds, closed along with several others earlier in the year due to financial difficulties, had helped to relieve pressure on the hospital, a spokesman said.
Mr Philip McAnenly, industrial relations officer with the Irish Nurses' Organisation, said he would be making a number of demands at this afternoon's meeting with management.
These include: the immediate reopening of closed beds; more frequent ward rounds by hospital consultants; and that the hospital's escalation plan be implemented much more quickly in future. Under the plan one extra nurse should be rostered for duty for every six patients awaiting beds in A&E.
"We will want to know what exactly management did last weekend to resolve this matter and exactly how many beds are closed in the hospital," Mr McAnenly said.
Yesterday Dr Aidan Gleeson, A&E consultant at Beaumont, called for more resources for the hospital, which has had to struggle to pay salaries in recent months. At the end of April it had an unauthorised overdraft of €2.2 million. Dr Gleeson said the system was simply underfunded. "There is complete lack of capacity within the system," he said.
He said A&E units were struggling to provide a service with up to 30 patients on trolleys regularly awaiting beds. "We are getting nowhere unfortunately. We have numerous reports . . . We are not seeing effective action."
A&E units at other Dublin hospitals are also under pressure. More than 20 patients were awaiting a bed in the A&E department at the Mater Hospital yesterday morning. The hospital has closed more than 80 beds this year due to funding difficulties.
Fourteen patients were waiting for beds in A&E at St Vincent's Hospital yesterday morning and eight in St James's. A spokesman said both hospitals were "coping".
Outside Dublin, apart from sporadic crises, A&E units appear to be running smoothly. No patients were awaiting beds in A&E at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick or at Galway's University College Hospital yesterday morning. However, there were 12 patients on trolleys awaiting beds at Cork University Hospital.
Opposition parties have called for more beds and more hospital funding. Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said unless there was an immediate increase in acute hospital budgets, "the dangerous conditions" which pertained at Beaumont over the weekend would escalate.
Ms Liz McManus of Labour called on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to make a clear commitment to protect essential care in the health service, especially accident and emergency services.
The Green Party chairman and health spokesman, Mr John Gormley, said the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, seemed to be in denial on the need to provide extra beds for acute hospitals in order to solve the A&E crisis.