‘SEND THEM TO A&E IF YOU WANT TO TORTURE THEM’
HUNDREDS of nurses yesterday protested outside several hospitals over nursing shortages. In Cork, they claim there are 50 nursing vacancies at Cork University Hospital, 30 at its maternity wing and a dozen in its emergency department. In Limerick, nurses described conditions in UHL where 48 patients languished on trolleys yesterday. The hospital has consistently been the most overcrowded hospital in the country.
BRIGID O’DONNELL
BRIGID O’Donnell, who is nursing for over 20 years at UHL, said: ‘If you want to torture people, send them into A&E. There aren’t enough nurses on the ground.’
Nurses say that even though a €24million Emergency Department opened last year the trolley crisis has got worse.
She said: ‘Nurses are not giving even 50% care to their patients because they don’t have time. We can’t keep nurses. The most senior nurses cannot cope with demands any longer. Our young nurses are not going to stay and put up with the conditions or pay. We don’t have enough beds. We don’t have enough staff to provide care for those patients.’
MARIE O’BRIEN
MARIE O’Brien, a nurse of 40 years, saw the extent of the crisis for herself when she visited the newly opened Limerick A&E last October as a patient.
‘Outside it looked amazing… When I went inside, I was actually gobsmacked when I saw all the patients. I felt it was like a miniBeirut, it was like a war-zone.’
‘They were covering their heads from the lights on the ceiling.’