Flu season arrives early as hospital bed crisis intensifies nationwide

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has accused the HSE of failing to prepare for flu season.

This comes as 616 patients across the country are being treated today on trolleys or other inappropriate bed spaces, such as chairs.

General Secretary of the INMO, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, criticised the HSE for not “learning any lessons” from the last 20 years of flu-related hospital overcrowding at this time of year.

“Flu season is well flagged; it happens every single year, yet it is clear that no contingency plans are in place. There is no point in trying to deal with a crisis when we are in mid-flow,” she said.

Over the last 24 hours, there has been a 22% increase in the number of patients being admitted to hospital without a bed.

Ní Sheaghdha added, “Our members want to be able to provide safe care to patients but also be assured that their own health and wellbeing is being protected – neither are guaranteed when they are working in overcrowded conditions where respiratory infections are rife.

“The HSE and other public sector healthcare employers must assure nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers, and indeed the public at large, that they are taking extraordinary action to ensure that all barriers to providing safe care at this time are removed.” 

Meanwhile, the HSE has called on anyone eligible for the flu vaccine to avail of it “immediately” as influenza cases increase across Carlow and the rest of the country.

Regional Director of Public Health for HSE Dublin and the South East, Dr Carmel Mullaney, has said the flu season has started earlier than usual, with indications already that it may be a more severe season than anticipated.

“Already we are seeing higher numbers of flu cases across the Dublin and South East region compared to last year, including those needing hospitalisation,” she said.

The flu vaccine is free for anyone aged 60 and above, children between the ages of two and 17, healthcare workers and carers, nursing home and other long-stay facility residents, people with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women, and anyone with regular close contact with poultry, waterfowl and pigs.

“I urge people in these at-risk groups, as well as healthcare workers, to take urgent steps now to protect themselves and others,” Mullaney said. “The flu vaccine takes two weeks to become fully effective. Therefore, the best time to get vaccinated is now, before rates of infection peak over the busy holiday period.” 

For more information about the flu vaccine, including where to get it, visit www.hse.ie/flu