Nurses at the Mid Western Regional hospital in Dooradoyle are set to escalate their work-to-rule Tuesday morning.
A decision was taken, at a joint meeting Monday of members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and SIPTU Nursing to take the action beginning at 8am.
They say the hospitals current approach to overcrowding is not adequate.
“Members from both unions remain resolute that the current approach to hospital overcrowding is not in any way securing a hospital wide response. Instead, it is causing a reduced urgency for discharges from hospital consultants as there is limited pressure coming from the emergency services, and the vast majority of all elective work at the hospital is proceeding unabated,” INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Mary Fogarty said in a statement Monday.
“As a result most wards at the hospital and the Emergency Department are continuously overcrowded and trolleys have now become a permanent feature for patients on wards.”
The action will entail the following:
• Non pushing of hospital trolleys, all patients will still be accompanied by a nurse as necessary;
• Non declaration of ward bed status unless a bed is vacated by an in-patient;
• Non cooperation with CSARS and Winter Initiative Forms;
• Non answering of phones;
• Non cooperation with booking taxis/ambulances for non urgent transfers/discharges.
A further meeting of the nurses unions will take place next Monday.
There was a doctor from the A&E department in Regional hospital earlier in the week and he was saying that it is international best practice to move people from A&E to the relevent areas even if that means them being on a trolley in that area. It improves the patients care, in serious cases their survival rate, and also cuts down on the time the patients spend in hospital.