Nurses today called for an increase in the number of critical care nurses countrywide to ensure no more patients are refused admission to intensive care units.
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) sought a commitment from the Minister for Health to implement an agreed nurse/patient ratio to seven qualified intensive care nurses per bed. This would ensure there is one nurse per patient at all time in the intensive care units.
Addressing the INO conference, which ends today, representative Ms Doreen Bourke said a 24-hour intensive care nurse is essential to monitor and assess patients. She said these nurses must be fully qualified in order to react quickly and appropriately in life-saving situations.
She supported her case by referring to a recent survey by the Intensive Care Society of Ireland which showed critically ill patients were not receiving surgery due to shortages in critical care nurses in hospitals.
The survey, conducted in nine counties, showed of the patients refused admission, 60 per cent of adults and 75 per cent of children were turned away by hospitals because of the lack of qualified intensive care nurses.
The one-to-one nurse/patient ratio had been agreed by the chairman of Eastern Regional Health Authority ICU review group, Mr Patrick McLoughlin, in line with UK guidelines, said Ms Bourke.
Ms Patricia Morrison of the Intensive Care Nurses Section (ICNS) told the conference less than half the nurses employed in Tallaght have an ICU course, while 55 per cent of the nurses are qualified in St James and only 37 per cent in James Connolly Memorial Hospital. One in five nurses at St Vincent University Hospital and two in five nurses at Columcilles Hospital in Loughlinstgown do not have the course, she said.