DUBLIN: The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO) has called on HSE to implement a new Critical Emergency Protocol in the context of the continuing outbreak of COVID-19.
The INMO points out that health workers in the country are under a lot of pressure and that most hospitals are understaffed in the wake of the escalating COVID-19 cases. Currently, Ireland’s healthcare sector is short of more than 3,000 employees due to COVID positives and close contact.
Therefore, the INMO urges HSE to take immediate steps to reduce the number of visitors to hospitals, to provide more PPEs, and to ensure a full-time senior management presence in hospitals.
Phil Ni Sheaghdha, INMO General Secretary, said that this is the best time for HSE to formulate security plans and implement the Critical Emergency Protocol. Security protocols have been in place since last March. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the vigilance instructions in the current situation, Ms. Ni Sheaghdha said.
At the same time, the INMO called on the HSE to make further assessments of the safety of health workers and to improve their day-to-day communication with health workers.
The new demand comes as nurses at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin complain that concerns raised in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic have not yet been addressed. When the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine was administered, there were allegations from nurses that they were not included in the priority list.
Meanwhile, the HSE Chief Clinical Officer said that by mid-January, the number of COVID patients in hospitals across the country will be more than 1,500. He added that by the end of January, more than 2,500 COVID patients will be treated in hospitals and the number of people admitted to the ICU will cross 400.