Persistent overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick has left nurses facing ‘threats and a lot of verbal abuse’ on a daily basis
By Ríona Maguire
Over the last two years, trolley numbers have hit an alarming all-time high at University Hospital Limerick, with some 1,561 patients laying on trolleys last month – the highest number ever recorded in the month of February.
On April 21 last year, the national record was broken at UHL as some 126 people lined the corridors on trolleys.
This persistent overcrowding at the Mid-West hospital has left nurses facing “threats and a lot of verbal abuse” on a daily basis, according to one student nurse who says the time she spent working there was “absolutely manic”.
Between January 2021 and October 2022, there were 5,593 reported assaults nationally against nursing and midwifery staff, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
INMO also state that at least 10 nurses a day are being assaulted in hospitals around Ireland.
The nurse, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims the majority of assaults boil down to overcrowding issues in the wards, against a backdrop of consistently high trolley numbers at UHL despite months of efforts to tackle the problem.
“You do get verbal abuse. Everybody is angry and everybody is sick, they’re just worried and wound up. You’re wound up as well because you’re under such high stress. Obviously, somebody is going to get angry and shout at you but that comes with the job.
Between January 2021 and October 2022, there were 5,593 reported assaults nationally against nursing and midwifery staff, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
Everybody just wants the best for themselves and their own family – they’re not thinking about the other 20 patients in the wing,” the student nurse told the Limerick Voice.
INMO chief Phil Ni Sheaghdha previously told the Dáil that many nurses and midwives don’t report incidents of assault.
The student nurse echoed Ms Ni Sheaghdha’s concerns, claiming that by the time they are addressed, the assault has often faded into the background.
“The hospital provide security in an attempt to avoid such incidents, but it’s often not enough,” according to the 22-year-old, who spent just six months working at UHL.
“You get a lot of verbal abuse, but if it is really severe you would report it. It’s a lot of effort to report things as well though. You just kind of need to get over it.
“We’re only doing our best,” she added.
Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan told the Limerick Voice how staff at UHL are doing “tremendous work” in “less-than-optimal conditions”.
“The trolley crisis and overcrowding at UHL is affecting the medical staff as well as patients. I have raised my concerns on this issue many times. Treating people in hospital corridors and on trolleys makes it more challenging for the medical staff to deliver for their patients.
“Addressing the issue of overcrowding is the first step in solving [other] issues of staff retention and recruitment,” said Mr Quinlivan.
“I don’t feel safe. My colleagues don’t feel safe, this all comes down to security. This comes down to overcrowding.”
Trade union representatives have been highlighting the violence and aggression experienced by nurses and midwives across the region, with one nurse giving evidence that she had been spat at, verbally abused and threatened with stabbing:
“I have been threatened that when I leave work that evening, that I will be stabbed as I get into my car. I have had grown men, six foot four, towering over me throwing objects at me,” nurse Sylvia Chambers told the Dail.
“I don’t feel safe. My colleagues don’t feel safe, this all comes down to security. This comes down to overcrowding.”
The student nurse who spoke anonymously to the Limerick Voice told how “devastating” it is to see patients laying on trolleys due to overcrowding at UHL.
“It is just heart-breaking to see all these older people on the trolleys. They’re not able to fend for themselves, they don’t know what is really going on around them and everybody is rushing by them. Nobody has the time to sit down and explain what is going on to them.
“They’re obviously sick and they’re worried. There’s no privacy or basic care for them. It’s just absolutely manic.”
She continued, “You see all these people up on these trolley’s and you’re thinking ‘imagine if this was my family, I just couldn’t put them in here’. That shouldn’t be the way it is.
“Every single one of the nurses is absolutely trying their best but no matter how good they are, you’re never going to be able to get through everyone. You’re not going to be able to get it all sorted because there will always be that backlog.
“It’s a warzone at times,” she said.
Read more Limerick Voice stories about UHL.
Find out more about the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
SECOND UHL PROTEST TO TAKE PLACE
A second University Hospital Limerick protest will take place on Saturday, March 25.
A large crowd is expected at the second UHL protest after the previous event in January saw 11,000 people take to the streets of Limerick city centre to oppose conditions at the mid-west hospital.
Protest organiser Mike Daly urged the Limerick community to cause “peaceful civil disruption to the city” in an effort to get UHL and the HSE to take notice.
The route will start at the Crescent Shopping Centre with protesters marching all the way to UHL. Crowds will then congregate for one hour on the green area outside the front of the hospital, rather than in Arthur’s Quay Park like the previous demonstration.
Mr Daly said, “We cannot sit around waiting for another death because of excessive waiting times. This is all about people power. So, let’s show them the will power that is in us, committed to getting the A&Es reopened.”
UL HOSPITAL GROUP SPEAK OUT ON OVERCROWDING
Overcrowding in UHL will continue if there is not a “substantial increase” in acute bed capacity, according to a UL Hospitals Group spokesperson.
Ireland’s most overcrowded hospital in 2022, Figures revealed by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in December 2022 showed that 118,662 patients were left without a bed at the Mid-West hospital throughout the year.
The spokesperson told the Limerick Voice that the group was grateful for the 98 inpatient beds and 10 critical care beds received since the start of the pandemic, but added, “We continue to lag behind other hospital groups in terms of bed capacity.”
Construction of a 96-bed block development is currently ongoing at UHL, but it will be two more years before the project is completed. Plans for another additional block were due to be submitted to the HSE in the first quarter of this year.
In an effort to reduce pressure on the Emergency Department,, the group have opened surge capacity across sites, transferred patients on trolleys to inpatients wards, reduced scheduled care and increased rounds undertaken by medical teams to identify patients suitable for transfer to Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s.
“We regret the long wait times for a bed and challenges around privacy and dignity currently being experienced by patients in ED. This is not the care we wish to provide for our patients. Staff are working hard, within existing resources and capacity, to reduce these wait times,” the spokesman added.
