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NURSES AT UNIVERSITY Hospital Galway will protest for one hour at lunchtime today amid concerns over the number of patients on trolleys in the Emergency Department.
Organised by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, and supported by Siptu, workers say they were “gravely concerned” that the department is “extremely overcrowded and understaffed”.
Nurses have said there aren’t enough beds in the hospital for the number of patients, and that patients are being deprived of care with dignity.
Figures from the INMO yesterday showed there were 13 patients on trolleys at University Hospital Galway. This is lower than hospitals such as Beaumont Hospital in Dublin which had 38 – the highest in the country – but higher than many regional hospitals.
The hospital itself acknowledged the ongoing problems in the Emergency Department, and said it is trying to fix the problems.
“Despite the ongoing efforts of staff and management, not all ED patients are afforded privacy and dignity,” the hospital said in a statement.
The build-up of patients in the Emergency Department is linked to bed availability throughout the building, the hospital said, adding that some long term care patients are due to be moved, resulting in more acute beds becoming available.
The hospital also said that at least 20 new nurses are due to start work soon.
Management and the INMO met yesterday afternoon in what the hospital said was a “good exchange of views” about the concerns.
The protest will take place from 1pm to 2pm today.
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If I hear anyone else say “life style choice” in relation to social welfare, I swear to God I wont be responsible!!!
The other thing that I m tired of hearing is “we need to reduce social welfare to motivate people to go back to work” Our TDs receive over €2500 pay per week, plus expenses, free transport etc and they are spending their time on how to cut child welfare by €10 and the dole by €8. Those who profit most from Irelands wealth are mostly tax exiles and pay nothing at all …is something wrong here?? Should we not be “motivating” those who earn €1 million plus to be paying their fair share?
I “live” on Social Welfare. Yes you could say it is a “lifestyle choice”. I have cardiac artery disease, diabetes and arthritis, and am on Disability Allowance. I get the same amount to exist on as someone trying to find a job. It is not a lot. In fact it is not enough. Do our T.D.s know or care? I think not. Would they do anything if they did know?
NO! Because they are not concerned about how ordinary people get by.
Oh Sugar !!
this country has thee most disconected politicians in relation to real life and how we cope and live with the decisions they make.
living on social welfare is a great lifestyle choice, i do it all the time :-P
It is an absolute disgrace what happened to Fr Kevin Reynolds and I am happy for him that his name was cleared. Why the hell won’t Dev jnr respect this mans wishes and those of Fr. Reynolds legal team?
Before cutting social welfare for single mothers, can we please first have a National plan to provide community childcare to every family? Community Childcare workers do a great job but when they have to be closed during school holidays, what’s the point?
Believe it or not, not every child in this country has a granny who can take over during school holidays.
Am I the only person who thinks the defamation by autocomplete thing is stupid? It would be like punishing a news reporter for reporting the news. It happened and people were looking up the recievership online to find out information about it so google took a popular term being used and suggested it as a search item. Google simpley did what it’s supposed to do, help people find information online in a quick manner by streamlining what is relevent to what people wanted at that time.
If the term “receivership” is now considered pejorative then google in Ireland had better beware, as the number of businesses in that situation is more likely to grow than shrink.
have your say