Members of the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine work every day with Emergency Department (ED) nurses and fully share their concerns about deficits in patient care; the current unsustainability of working in emergency care in Ireland and the worsening recruitment and retention crises facing the Irish health system.
Industrial action by members of the INMO will effect most areas of healthcare in Ireland tomorrow (5th February) and again on Thursday (7th February). Injury Units will be closed. The action will have a very significant impact on EDs with very few nurses earmarked to be available to EDs during the action and many of the usual nurse-delivered processes not available. One particular issue is that the usual process of Triage (prioritisation of patients based on clinical need) will not occur as a result of this action.
Although the country’s EDs will remain open, normal services will not be in place. Delays are inevitable and patients are advised not to attend EDs during the 24 hour periods (08.00-08.00) when industrial action is on-going, unless they genuinely have a condition that requires emergency intervention.
We ask that all in the Irish healthcare system and the patients using it are aware of this significant disruption.
