Intolerable conditions at st vincents AE department

MEMBERS of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in the Emergency Department of St Vincent’s University Hospital have commenced a ballot for industrial action to highlight ongoing overcrowding. 

Nurses took the decision at a meeting last Thursday following months of overcrowding, which they claim will “inevitably” lead to increased risk for patients and “intolerable” conditions for nurses.

According to the INMO’s trolley watch statistics, 3,331 patients spent time on a trolley at St Vincent’s Emergency Department awaiting an in-patient bed from January to August this year. This is an increase of 137 per cent on the same period in 2014. 

Speaking after the meeting, INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Philip McAnenly, said: “Our members are totally frustrated at management’s failure to address this problem or even acknowledge the extent of the 

crisis caused by this overcrowding. 

“Patient care is being compromised on a daily basis because of this intolerable overcrowding which totally prevents our members from providing the care they believe is necessary for their patients.”

He added: “INMO members have repeatedly raised concerns without an appropriate response. This has left them with no option but to ballot for industrial action seeking immediate improvements to protect both patients and themselves.”

Balloting of the 50 IMNO nurses attached to the St Vincent’s Emergency Department will continue until this Friday.

No spokesperson for St Vincent’s University Hospital was available for comment at the time of going to press.