On World Patient Safety Day, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called for the HSE to come to this week’s Emergency Department Taskforce meeting with renewed and workable solutions to reducing overcrowding which in turn will have a positive impact on patient safety.

Following the breakdown of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission, between several Government Departments and the INMO, SIPTU and FORSA, ballots for industrial action up to and including strike will now take place in Section 39 organisations.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called for the Emergency Department Taskforce to meet urgently to discuss how the HSE plans to tackle the persistent overcrowding problem in Irish hospitals. This comes as over 521 patients, including 7 children, have been admitted to hospital without a bed today.

Check out the September 2023 issue of WIN magazine. The World of Irish Nursing and Midwifery.

The INMO has today published its August 2023 trolley figures which worryingly show this has been the worst August for hospital overcrowding since the INMO began counting trolleys, with over 9,720 patients admitted to hospital without a bed. 

Over 7,832 patients, including 138 children, went without a bed in Irish hospitals this July according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s TrolleyWatch figures.