Surgery cancelled at St. James due to bed shortages

Surgical operations were cancelled in St. James's Hospital, Dublin yesterday due to a lack of intensive care beds. The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) has expressed deep concern about the situation and believes that surgical cancellations were inevitable as hospital activity increases for the months of January, February and March each year. 

The INO deems yesterday's situation 'a manifestation of the acute shortage of beds, not only at St James's but other acute hospitals, where there are not enough intensive care, high dependency or ward beds availabl..[and that] systems should be put in place to avoid this crisis and ensure that beds are available.'  

Speaking yesterday, INO Industrial Relations Officer, Phil Ni Sheaghdha said:

“We now have dangerous levels of overcrowding particularly in St James's Hospital which sees practically all work locations working over capacity and in this case intensively ill patients being nursed and cared for outside of the intensive care unit. Extra bed capacity is the only answer to this problem and steps must be taken by the HSE to provide more beds as a matter of urgency.”