A&E nurses predict bleak Christmas in hospitals

Accident and Emergency nurses say the problem of overcrowding in hospitals is likely to worsen over the Christmas.

SIPTU national nursing official, Mr Oliver McDonagh, described the situation in Accident and Emergency wards across the State as "intolerable".

Mr McDonagh said nurses "are dreading the festive season because 2003 has been the worst year ever in their experience".

"Despite the fact that unions and management are meeting on a regular basis to discuss problems in relation to overcrowding, the situation has been much worse this year, especially in Dublin, because of constant overcrowding in the Mater and Beaumont hospitals"

SIPTU's National Nursing Council says "the intolerable conditions in which nurses are expected to work is directly related to the lack of hospital beds".

"But instead of putting more beds into the system, all the major hospitals in Dublin are closing beds," it claimed.

The Council questioned an Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) claim that an inability to recruit sufficient nurses is the reason behind bed closures.

It said this was being claimed "despite the fact that €5.8 million additional funding has gone into the system specifically for beds".

Yesterday the Health Service Employers Agency (HSEA) revealed the number of nursing vacancies in hospitals and healthcare institutions across the State has fallen by 29 per cent in the year to the end of September.

The figures, collected over the last two months by the HSEA, show there were 722 nursing posts vacant at the end of the third quarter.