Thousands of people gathered at hospitals around the country on Saturday morning over “persistent and record” overcrowding in emergency departments in recent months.
The health service has experienced unprecedented pressure in recent months due to high levels of Covid-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Last year saw the highest-ever number of patients waiting on trolleys for a hospital bed, while record daily numbers were seen in early January when almost 1,000 people were on trolleys in one day.
Several protests took place across the country on Saturday morning, with particularly large crowds in Limerick and in Cork.
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Peadar Tóibín, Aontú TD and chairman of the Save Navan Hospital campaign, said many people around the country are “deeply frustrated” with the “horrendous overcrowding” seen in hospitals over the past month.
“Everybody knows that the one thing we all share is that in some stage of our lives, we will all likely need an A&E so the big question that arises for everybody is will a functional A&E be there when we need it?” he said.
Mr Tóibín criticised the decision of the Health Service Executive (HSE) to close down 24-hour emergency departments (ED) care in hospitals over recent years, such as the closure in Ennis.
He said the current plan to do the same in Navan would have huge repercussions for the community. “What we need to do now is push the HSE to take a new approach and what we’re simply calling for is investment in frontline capacity in this country,” he said.
Noeleen Moran, spokeswoman of the Midwest Hospital Campaign group, said they were protesting at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) because overcrowding has “increased year-on-year”.
UHL consistently has one of the highest levels of emergency department overcrowding, according to figures collated by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
“We know that people from our communities are dying as a result of the overcrowding. These people are known to us, these people matter to us and we simply are not going to take this any longer,” she said.
Ms Moran said politicians and senior decision-makers often attribute the growing problem to Covid-19, but she said: “We’ve been out here campaigning long before [the pandemic].”
“Much more needs to be done. We know that the problem stems back to 2009 when the services of Ennis, Nenagh and St John were downgraded and closed and emergency departments were closed,” she said.
“We know that far too many people now are having to present to University Hospital Limerick and it simply cannot cope. That is why we are out [protesting].”
[ Hospital overcrowding should be treated as a ‘national crisis’, says INMOOpens in new window ]
At a small gathering of protesters outside Connolly hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin, Rosemary Lennon-Maher said she recently had to wait 12 hours in a chair before she was put on a trolley in the hospital.
“I was in very serious pain. I sat there, doctors and nurses were running past me. I was frightened because I’m 70 now. I didn’t know if I was going to last the night, the pain was so excruciating,” she said.
Gerard Sheehan said his mother, who is in her 70s, waited between three and four days on a trolley before being given a bed when she attended the hospital before Christmas.
“It was stressful. Initially she didn’t want to go into the hospital [because of overcrowding]. It’s ridiculous,” he said.
Theresa Moylan said her 84-year-old mother was on a trolley for 20 hours in 2018 before she got a bed, and died a few days later.
“She was elderly and very sick. Was the delay part of the reason she died? I don’t know but it does make you very angry and it does make you ask a lot of questions,” she added.
[ Hospital overcrowding: Is adding more beds really the solution?Opens in new window ]
In Co Donegal, about 200 people gathered in Letterkenny. Some speakers expressed disappointment at the turnout.
Mary T Sweeney of the Letterkenny Hospital Campaign group called on management to engage with doctors, nurses and consultants to improve overcrowding at the hospital. “We need people to sit down and talk to each to address the problems because it is obvious that the system we have in place is simply not working,” she said.
Lifford man Paul McDaid said he had waited 17 hours at the hospital’s ED unit six months ago with his son who had a fractured arm.
“I am not having a go at the staff because they were terrific but the system is broken,” he said. “When a child is in horrific pain and has to wait almost a day to be treated then there is something drastically wrong with our healthcare system and with our country in general.”
Local councillor and chairman of the Western Regional Health Forum, Gerry McMonagle, said there are less acute beds in our hospitals today than there were in 2006.
Trainee nurse Lucas Meehan said the lack of doctors was also an issue locally and suggested that nurses should be given more power to assist patients, including the power to prescribe some drugs.
In Tralee, about a dozen people staged a protest outside University Hospital Kerry. Mary Fizgibbon, a lecturer in nursing and health at the Munster Technological University, said staff were under huge stress.
“We have been beyond crisis for over a decade or more. A whole hospital is needed, a whole other acute service,” Ms Fitzgibbon said.
