Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health, David Cullinane TD, has called on the Minister for Health to show real leadership at government level to make sure that overcrowding in hospitals is reduced in 2025.
Teachta Cullinane was responding to alarming Trolley Watch figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, including commentary that patients and healthcare workers were being placed in highly inappropriate and dangerous situations with trolleys, in some places, being placed “in front of fire points and fire exits.”
He added that this was an unacceptable safety risk which highlights the chaos that is rampant in overcrowded hospitals. He backed calls by the INMO for a cross-agency approach including HSA, HIQA, and local authorities.
Teachta Cullinane said:
“It is simply unacceptable that patients are being haphazardly placed in precarious places around hospitals across the State. It is the stark reality, as testified to by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, that the chaos in our hospitals is at such a point that trolleys are crowding fire points and fire exits in some locations.
“The Minister for Health needs to very quickly show leadership at government level and deliver significant investment in safe hospital capacity and safe staffing levels. The corner must be turned on overcrowding in 2025. This has become an all-year, every month, every week problem in many hospitals, and that is down to political choices.
“The trolley and overcrowding crisis is a major patient safety risk, causing delays to care and unsafe environments for infection control. This leads to unsatisfactory care, reduced outcomes, and premature deaths. The fact that the potential of even greater harm is being heaped on top of already very serious risks is absolutely outrageous.
“Overcrowding is dangerous and unsafe. It leads directly to harm. It strips people of dignity. It also causes serious moral injury to healthcare workers and patients alike. It is beyond time for serious action and I fully support the call from the INMO for a cross-agency approach. If government won’t step up to the mark, then regulators must get involved and force political action.
“The solutions are not straight forward but they are not a mystery. Government must urgently invest in 5,000 hospital beds, a significant expansion of community beds and discharge reform, healthcare IT systems, efficient equipment, and safe staffing levels through strategic workforce planning.
“The major elective centres must be fast-tracked to free up clinical space in hospitals with emergency departments. There is no quick fix, but the longer it takes for real government action to materialise, the worse the crisis will continue to get.”
