A shortage of agency nurses prevented Dublin hospitals from opening additional beds to ease serious levels of overcrowding in their accident and emergency departments yesterday. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
The overcrowding was particularly acute at the Mater Hospital where last night there were still over 30 patients on trolleys awaiting admission.
The hospital was, according to a medical source, "in dire straits" and sought to have ambulances diverted to Beaumont Hospital earlier in the day. However, Beaumont could not oblige as it too had more than 30 patients on trolleys at one stage. Last night the numbers on trolleys in Beaumont was down to 27.
Even in the south side of the city there were over 20 patients on trolleys in the A&E department of St Vincent's Hospital at one point.
Last night the Eastern Regional Health Authority appealed to the public not to attend A&E unless it was absolutely necessary. It said people should see their GP who would treat them more quickly and just as effectively.
Both the Mater and Beaumont confirmed they attempted to find agency nurses to allow them transfer some of those on trolleys to other areas of the hospital but there were very few available.
Many agency nurses are now working practically full time and this combined with the fact that some who trained before the nursing degree was introduced have been returning to college to obtain degrees has been contributing to the shortages.
Dr Aidan Gleeson, an A&E consultant at Beaumont, said wards couldn't be just opened with agency nurses. There would have to be some senior nursing staff from the hospital who were familiar with how the hospital operated available also.
"There can be problems getting agency staff to work at night in particular in A&E departments because its not a cushy number," he said.
"Hospitals also set limits on what rates they will pay agency nurses and if they are not paying top dollar then nurses will not come to them," he added.
Dr Gleeson said the overcrowding in A&Es yesterday was just an example of the normal fluctuations in attendances but the departments were also beginning to see an increase in respiratory and chest infections.
The basis of the recurring overcrowding was a lack of bed capacity in the hospitals, he said. "We are dealing with serious undercapacity in the health service. This is where the Hanly report, which has some good points, will fail miserably because it is contingent on an 85 per cent bed occupancy level which will not happen in our big hospitals. They are operating at up to 100 per cent and over 100 per cent capacity.
"It's not an easy one to solve and it can't be solved on the cheap and this is where Hanly will again fail miserably. It will require massive amounts of money and like reports gone before it only small amounts will be implemented because of financial constraints," he added.