Members of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) in Cork have called for an urgent health summit to discuss the acute shortage of beds for emergency patients in the area.

The nurses who are based at Cork University Hospital's A&E Department, have raised serious concerns about the current accident and emergency service situation in Cork and are asking health providers to meet to review the current critical situation and agree initiatives which are necessary to address these difficulties.

Members said that nursing and other support staffing levels have been curtailed at CUH due to the on-going HSE cutbacks and because the new Emergency Department in the Mercy University Hospital is due to open only on a part time basis in June, that this will result in an additional 16,000 emergency attendances at CUH without allocation of additional staff. They also said that community staffing and services have also been curtailed in Cork resulting in additional pressure on emergency departments while ambulance services are under sustained pressure with regard to the proper management of patients requiring attendance in hospital. Local INO members have also highlighted the fact that the INO's submission for a centralised bed bureau in the city has been ignored by the HSE (South).

Against this background the INO says it is calling for a high level summit meeting, of all health care providers in Cork, to review the current critical situation and agree all initiatives necessary to address these difficulties and ensure the highest standards of patient care and safe working environments for nursing and other staff.

Patsy Doyle, Industrial Relations Officer said, "INO members in CUH are horrified and demoralised at the environment in which they now have to attempt to provide care for patients attending the emergency department.

"It is their collective view that patient care is being compromised and that it is only a matter of time before there are serious issues and incidents. Therefore immediate, radical, dramatic and determined action is now required to deal with this crisis."

Coinciding with the request, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and Cork North Central TD, Deputy Bernard Allen reiterated his call for senior HSE management in the region to meet with Oireachtas members to explain the nature and impact of the recent cuts in Cork. Deputy Allen requested this meeting earlier this month and received assurances that it would take place within two weeks, however, this has not happened. He said that the call from the nurses, just like that from local representatives had come about because people were not being told what is happening and said that there was a need for more openness and transparency regarding these cutbacks.

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