Nurses working in University Hospital Limerick say “critical patient safety” must be addressed before a new €18 million emergency department is opened next week.
Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) say they are deeply concerned at plans to accommodate up to 24 patients on trolleys and chairs in the new facility.
The plans seek to embed forever the “unacceptable concept” of patients on trolleys in the emergency department, according to the union.
“This is not progress for patients or nursing staff, and is a retrograde approach as the opportunity for the new facility to reach its full potential cannot be realised.”
The INMO has proposed that trolley patients be accommodated in the old emergency department building, but says this has been rejected by management.
The union is also concerned at staffing issues, including the numbers of newly qualified staff rostered to work in the unit; the numbers of newly qualified nursing staff recently arrived in Ireland who are “still adapting to the new clinical environment”; and the lack of staff with specialist qualifications.
It says the proposed nursing skill mix is unsafe as newly qualified nurses are being tasked with senior nursing roles in emergency care.“The HSE has undertaken only one dry run of the new facility, last Wednesday, when a significant number of serious, unsafe processes were identified.”
Another three or four dry runs are needed to correct all the faults identified, the union says.
Limerick is the second busiest emergency department in the State, and has some of the worst overcrowding.
