Hospital NegativelyOvercrowding Impacts Student Nurses

Ella Waddington

ately” when she reported the harassment at the time.

In the first weeks of 2023, a reemergence of hospital overcrowding struck Irish hospitals with a record of 931 patients waiting for beds in corridors at its peak. Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, described the situation as a “perfect storm” of illnesses such as flu, COVID, RSV and the usual pressures facing the health system. These factors leave medical professionals and student nurses with intense, exhausting work conditions.

Those seeking medical assistance are asked by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to consider all options before attending emergency departments to ease the pressure faced by hospitals. However, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), acknowledges that “the call is falling in the wrong area”.

The situation’s improvement is being accredited to the increased number of staff coming to work in hospitals over the peak of the crisis and attendance was up by 30% compared to normal levels in some hospitals. Stephen Mulvany has appealed to healthcare workers to work extra hours over the coming weekends to try and ease continuous pressure on the emergency department.

Student nurses currently on placement are included in the staff required to work overtime. Meadhbh

Gibney, a student nurse in training at University Hospital Limerick, which experienced some of the worst overcrowding, says that the crisis has simply highlighted already existing problems in the healthcare system.

“No amount of preparation from lecturers or clinical placement could have mentally prepared me for what I was about to see and do. The overcrowding and understaffing isn’t a new issue, it was just exacerbated over the last few weeks. The problem was apparent to me when I

Rogers thanked her for speaking out about her experience, telling her that UCD policies were “transformed” since she went public and he looked forward to how Ní Shúilleabháin would “thrive and contribute to a safer UCD” moving forward.

Commenting on the letter’s contents in her post, Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin thanked Rogers for the apology, as well as her colleagues in higher education who had been supporting her since 2015.

She expressed gratitude to her friends and family for being there for her throughout the experience and for “never letting [her] let this go”. She ended her post by thanking the Irish Federation of University Teachers for their support and encouraged everyone to join a union.

Private hospitals are offering their beds to those waiting on trolleys; and although some were able to provide assistance, the arrangements were deemed “both ad hoc and uncoordinated” by the Private Hospitals Association.

Nursing homes also wished to support the health system by offering their beds, but hundreds of patients could not be relocated out of hospitals due to delayed transfers. These delayed transfers are often caused by delays in organising Fair Deal nursing home places or transitional care in other facilities.

While the number of people waiting in corridors has decreased, the HSE cannot confirm that figures will not rise again as the country is still in the middle of the wave of winter respiratory viruses. The chief executive of the HSE, Stephen Mulvany, has stated that total admissions into hospitals exceeded the health services “most pessimistic model” coming into the winter surge by 10%.