Children at risk due to lack of specialist staff in A&E

THE nurses’ union has called for every emergency department to be staffed with a children’s nurse in line with a ten-year-old report.

The INMO made the call at its annual conference this week in Kilkenny, launching a nationwide campaign for the recruitment of about 8,000 nurses and a ratio of one nurse to four patients.

Nurses from the Dublin southwest branch highlighted the lack of specialist children’s nurses in hospital emergency departments, even though an estimated one third of admissions are children.

In 2004 a HSE report recommended this be urgently changed, following the tragic death of Frances Spillane at Cavan Hospital.

Secretary General of the INMO Liam Doran said: ‘That report said there should be a children’s nurse in every emergency department 24-7, many years ago. That report sits on the shelf.

‘That is a terrible indictment of management.’

Nurse Linda Phelan said: ‘I am a children’s nurse, children require specialised care. The ED should be staffed with children’s nurses.’