Hospitals across the State are under pressure from nurses and midwives to address the "grave and serious" problem of routine overcrowding on wards.
The call follows the announcement by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) that it is to publicise the results of its Ward Watch initiative which monitors the numbers of patients in overcrowded conditions.
The union is also calling on Minister for Health James Reilly to increase hospital capacity by opening beds in hospitals which regularly face overcrowding.
General secretary Liam Doran, launching the initiative at his union's Dublin headquarters today that certain hospitals "are failing completely" to follow established protocols and to open extra beds when faced with additional patient demand. He added: "Current management is wholly inadequate," while certain hospitals "are just too small" to deliver patient care effectively and safely.
The Ward Watch total, which builds on the union's Trolley Watch scheme operating since 2004, will publish daily figures on the numbers of additional hospital patients on beds, trolleys or chairs above the stated complement of a ward or unit. The unit has advised the Department of Health Special delivery Unit of the initiative.
Five major hospitals – Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown; Tallaght Hospital; the Mid-West Regional Hospital, Limerick; Midland regional Hospital, Mullingar and Wexford General hospital; are overcrowded on a daily basis, INMO claims. The figures, derived from the hospitals' own statistics, show that the combined totals of patients on trolleys and those in additional beds or chairs which are above agreed ward capacity is at alarming levels.
INMO president Claire Mahon said: "This problem is compounded by poor staffing as a result of hospitals refusing to employ staff or because they cannot find the required number of nurses."
She added: “The problem is further exacerbated by the failure/refusal of these hospitals to declare they are in full capacity. Frequently they do not initiate the necessary measures, including the cancellation of inpatient elective procedures, the postponement of day cases and additional consultant ward rounds which would allow them to de-escalate and deal with their overcrowding pressures.”