Overcrowding in Irish hospitals reached a record high last month, new figures have shown.
More than 6,600 patients were left waiting on trolleys (gurneys) in emergency departments throughout August, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO).
The group said budget cuts affected front-line care, with almost 2,000 beds shut in public hospitals. Its figures showed a 35 percent increase in the numbers who found themselves on a trolley from August 2010 - up to 6,624. This was a staggering 106 percent rise since 2007.
Liam Doran, INMO general secretary, said the figures should tell health minister James Reilly, and the Health Service Executive, that the current cost of containment programs were having a serious negative impact on patient care.
"Emergency department overcrowding is the greatest challenge facing the entire health system every day," Doran said.
"It cannot, and will not, be solved by hiding the problem with extra beds on wards, thus compromising the care of all patients."
The INMO recorded 401 people on trolleys on August 31 - a figure down to 323 today. Mr. Doran said the 1,947 bed closures in hospitals nationwide, a cut in the number of long-term care beds, and cutbacks in community-based services were having a devastating impact on the quality of care available to all patients.
The union raised fears over an expected increase in demand during the winter months. It also called for inspections all hospitals to ensure staff are able to provide safe care, in a dignified environment, to all patients at all times.
"Regardless of International Monetary Fund/European Union austerity programs, this government must now review its current policy of constantly cutting back on frontline health services as a way of saving money and realize this is harmful to patient care and simply unsustainable," said Doran.
"It must therefore prioritize the opening of closed beds in sufficient numbers to meet present and future demand, and it must do so without further delay, prevarication or hesitation," he said.
