The overcrowding problems in Beaumont Hospital in recent days will be replicated in all the other acute on-call hospitals in the Dublin area in the coming weeks unless urgent action is taken, the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) warned last night.
Mr Philip McAnenly, the INO's industrial relations officer, said institutions such as the Mater Hospital and James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown would come under similar pressure very soon, if the pattern of bed closures continues.
All non-emergency admissions have been cancelled at Beaumont today, as part of a plan to reduce the pressure on the A&E department.
Yesterday morning the INO said 59 patients were either on trolleys or on chairs in an A&E department which was designed to accommodate 28 trolleys.
Patient care and everybody's health and safety had been unnecessarily compromised, Mr McAnenly said.
"Nurses were reaching over patients in order to treat other patients," he said.
"How do you have a standard of patient care when your workload is doubled and you haven't room to move?"
By yesterday evening, a hospital spokesman said, about 25 patients in the A&E department were awaiting admission to the hospital.
Pressure on the department was "well above the seasonal average" last week.
This "intense pressure" had been alleviated by a number of steps taken within the hospital.
A number of additional beds were brought into use, and off- duty and agency nurses were drafted in.
Beaumont also asked that ambulances be diverted to other hospitals for two hours at lunchtime yesterday. But, because of pressure on services at the Mater, this was limited to about 75 minutes.
This "protective cover" was also sought on Saturday night, but was withdrawn half-an-hour later as the Mater had also sought cover.
The INO has warned that the Mater will come under severe pressure next weekend, due to the bed closures.
Last month it emerged that contingency plans had been drawn up to treat patients in ambulances in the car-park of the Mater if the A&E unit became grossly overcrowded due to bed closures.
The spokesman stressed that Beaumont had anticipated a difficult weekend and had taken "all available steps to address the exceptionally high pressure".
However, the INO said the measures were "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
Trolleys were being taken from the day hospital to cater for the A&E department, with the result that today's elective admissions had had to be cancelled, Mr McAnenly said.
He rejected claims that it was a particularly busy week and said the overcrowding was a direct result of the earlier closure of 55 beds.
He called for an urgent response to address the "chronic" situation.
The only thing that would solve the problem was the re-opening of beds and the hiring of more staff, Mr McAnenly said.
The INO has urged people to lobby their local TDs to put pressure on the Government to take these steps.
A spokesman for the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said the situation in Beaumont was an operational matter for the hospital's authorities, and the Department of Health could not interfere with that.
