Elderly man spends five days on trolley

AN elderly man has been on a trolley in an emergency department waiting for a hospital bed for five days.

The cancer patient was one of 40 people in need of a bed in the severely overcrowded A&E unit in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, with medics warning that the crisis will only get worse in the coming winter months unless dramatic steps are taken.

Several other people have endured four days on trolleys.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation described chaotic scenes in Drogheda’s emergency department with instances of two patients being placed in cubicles designed for one, and trolleys being packed head to toe.

‘It’s completely intolerable for staff and patients,’ INMO industrial relations officer Tony Fitzpatrick said. The union accused hospital management of reneging on a deal dating back to February which committed them to hiring an extra nurse for every admitted patient on a trolley waiting for a bed.

Mr Fitzpatrick also warned that many of those on trolleys are suffering sleep deprivation as they are being forced to lie under fluorescent lights 24 hours a day. ‘There is also the significantly increased risk of adverse medical outcomes or worse something being missed as a result of overcrowding,’ he said.

The INMO said the emergency department in Drogheda is short of five nurses in a hospital that this year recorded its highest level of overcrowding since 2006.