The provision of additional staff, beds and funding has not yet reduced the level of hospital overcrowding, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said.
He said he would be reconvening the Government’s emergency department taskforce implementation group to examine further measuresthat could be put in place to tackle the problem.
The Minster’s comments came after nurses claimed the scale of ovecrowding in hospital emergency departments last month was 40 per cent higher than in August of last year.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said last month there were 6,518 patients deemed to require admission to hospitals who were left on trolleys.
The INMO said the hospitals which saw the greatest levels of overcrowding, during August, were:
* Drogheda - 680
* Beaumont - 678
* Limerick - 618
* UHG - 458
* CUH - 399
* Tallaght - 395
In a statement on Tuesday Mr Varadkar said: “There has substantial investment since the start of the year to alleviate overcrowding. We have 1,000 more staff working in the public health service than last year and €74 million has been provided for the Fair Deal Nursing Home Scheme and additional community beds across the country including Moorehall in Drogheda and Mount Carmel in Dublin.
“ This has freed up 300 acute beds in our hospitals. It is clear, however, that additional staff, beds and finance has not yet reduced overcrowding. I will be reconvening the emergency department taskforce implementation group shortly to discuss what more can be done.”
The INMO said on Tuesday that it was repeating its demand for high level talks to agree further measures to alleviate the hospital overcrowding crisis.
It said its executive council would meet next week “to consider the situation and prepare a response, on behalf of members in the frontline, who are tired of being told the situation is getting better”.
The INMO said the situation was getting worse and would continue to do so until significant additional bed capacity (acute and continuing care) wass introduced.
Liam Doran, INMO general secretary, said it was the 14th month in a row "when, year on year, the level of overcrowding has deepened with patient care compromised, on a daily basis, as a result".
“We are now beginning the early autumn/winter period, which will only see, in the absence of emergency measures, the overcrowding situation worsen still further as demand continues to grow against the background of staff and bed shortages.”
Mr Doran said the Government had to accept the request for additional funding made recently by the HSE. He said the additional resources being sought were required to allow the health service meet existing demand in a quality assured and patient sensitive manner.
In April, the Government provided more than €70 million in additional funding aimed primarily at dealing with overcrowding in hospitals and delays in accessing the Fair Deal nursing home scheme.
The HSE has sought about €1.9 billion in additional funding for next year.
