THE FIRST SET of figures captured using ‘Ward Watch’, which was launched today by the INMO, have shown that 1,347 patients were placed in wards over the last four weeks.

This equated to an average of 79 patients each day that were above the stated bed complement of the ward in which they were placed.

The data, supplied by bed managers throughout the country, showed that over 2,200 patients were either on trolleys or placed in a ward in the following five hospitals:

(Figures – INMO Ward Watch)

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have said that while the Trolley Watch figures for this four-week period, when compared with the same four weeks in 2012, would have shown a reduction of seven per cent, the addition of Ward Watch figures shows that there had been an increase of 19 per cent in the number of patients placed in an inappropriate environment.

The general secretary of the INMO, Liam Doran, said that while the reduction of patients on trolleys in some hospitals was “most welcome”, he said that “this new Ward Watch count confirms that, particularly in the hospitals named above (see box), the reduction in trolley numbers is completely offset by the placing of additional patients, on inpatient wards.”

This not only compromises their care but also the care of all patients on that ward. The INMO remains fundamentally opposed to the placing of additional beds/trolleys, above the stated complement, on any inpatient ward/unit.

Read: Nurses to track hospital overcrowding >