Just one nurse is often looking after 40 patients at night in Health Service Executive-funded units caring for the elderly, it was claimed at the annual conference of the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) yesterday.
Derek Reilly, a Kildare delegate, said if the same patients were in an acute hospital they would have at least three nurses looking after them at night.
"When staffing levels are down, patients are more likely to fall out of bed. It's proven that where nurse ratios are down, patient care is compromised."
INO president Madeline Spiers told the conference that safe staffing levels equalled safe lives, and she backed a motion calling for appropriate staffing levels to be enshrined in legislation.
The conference heard there had been many reviews of staffing levels in units caring for the elderly, but the findings were not being implemented.
Noreen Muldoon, an industrial relations officer with the INO, said the latest review conducted by the HSE Western Area concluded staffing levels for care of the elderly should be 0.7 staff for every patient.
"There isn't any place that has that number," Ms Muldoon said.
"Every single care of the elderly facility in the west is short-staffed." The latest review was a waste of money if its findings were not implemented.
Guest speaker Judith Oulton, chief executive officer of the International Council of Nurses, said poor staffing levels resulted in more medical errors, an increased incidence of patients falling, and in staff working double shifts which was unsafe.