The head of Northern Ireland’s largest nursing trade union has backed calls by her counterpart in the Republic for an “emergency national plan” to tackle overcrowding in hospital emergency departments (ED).
Rita Devlin, director of the Royal College of Nursing (NI), said she believes Northern Ireland EDs are faring “slightly worse” than those in the Republic following a rise in trolley waits.
Staff had written “disturbing” letters of concern to the RCN in recent weeks, she said.
“These letters are from an entire department. It’s not like it’s one or two, it’s the whole lot,” said Ms Devlin. .
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“Hand on heart, this is the worst year because our contingency was not available. The issue is that the beds they had put up as the emergency escalation beds have been in use since August.”
On Monday, figures compiled by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) showed that 761 patients were on trolleys in the Republic’s hospitals.
“I do think we’re slightly worse because they’re bigger than us,” said Ms Devlin. “If you look at a breakdown of that total, the trolley waits for emergency departments was 528. There was one day last week when we had 428 and we’ve only got six counties.
“The Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) in Belfast is the probably the worst because it has the biggest catchment.”
Two elderly patients waited five days to be admitted to a bed in the RVH by Monday afternoon, according to the BBC, while there were 400 patients facing delays of more than 12 hours in the North’s hospitals.
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said it was “inconceivable” that we are “once again talking about how high trolley figures are on the first Monday in January”.
An emergency national plan was required, she said, adding that it was “frustrating” for her union’s members to see other parts of the public sector coming together to efficiently deal with the consequences of weather warnings.
“The HSE and other public sector healthcare employers must reassure nurses, midwives, healthcare workers, and the wider public that extraordinary measures are being taken to address and remove all barriers to delivering safe care during this critical time,” she said.
Enhanced support in the community sector was also urgently required to address the needs of an increasingly elderly population, according to Ms Devlin.
“I don’t believe we’ve had a proper strategy right across the island of Ireland in terms of how we look after those older people – because hospital can’t be the answer to everything,” she said.
“We have more beds in nursing homes in Northern Ireland than we do in hospitals and I’m sure it’s the same in the South, but it’s very difficult to get staff to look after those patients. The tariff the government is paying is not sufficient for the acuity of patients going into hospital.
“We also need the money and will to implement the strategies. Bear in mind there’s been many a paper written and then the strategies have not been costed, funded or implemented. We end up in a mess of our own making. We can’t keep doing the same thing.”
In a statement, Stormont’s Department of Health said longer-term solutions required sustained investment and reform.
Demand for care was currently more than what the health service could provide, it added.
NI Minister for Health Mike Nesbitt was invited by Ms Devlin to do a private walkabout on hospital floors in recent days, which he attended.
“The Minister met emergency department staff, and had held discussions with both the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine,” a department spokesman said.
“He shares their serious concerns about the impact of the immense pressures on staff and patients and will follow up with further engagement in the coming weeks.”
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