Over 10,000 patients have been without a bed since the mask mandate was lifted in February.
Doctors and nurses nationwide are calling for the Government to reintroduce mask wearing and working from home to curb the spread of Covid and ease pressure on hospitals.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM) released a joint statement on Thursday (31 March) sharing their concerns.
Covid cases have been at a consistently high level over the past number of weeks, with 89,432 cases confirmed between 13 March and 27 March.
Since the start of the pandemic, meanwhile, 58% of Covid deaths have been linked to outbreaks, with over 90% of those deaths linked to outbreaks in healthcare facilities.
10,000 patients have been without a bed in hospital since mandatory mask wearing was lifted in February, and over 1,601 patients are in hospital with Covid.
The organisations also shared their concerns for the “very significant risks” medical and nursing staff are facing, including exhaustion driven by the significant increase in patients being admitted.
“The INMO and our colleagues in the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine have come together today to call on the Government and public health teams to review measures ahead of the peak of the latest wave of the Covid virus,” INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said.
“Hospitals are currently not safe for patients or for staff because of the level of overcrowding and Covid infection levels.
“We need clear and coherent public health advice from Government and senior public health officials.
“The public need to be made aware of why we need them to once again step up to the plate in order to protect those who are working on our frontlines,” she added.
Karen McGowan, INMO President and an Emergency Department nurse said that “when senior clinicians from a medical and nursing perspective sound the alarm to this extent someone must stop and pay attention.”
“Between both of our organisations, we have been calling on Government and senior public health officials to act when it comes to implementing public health advice,” McGowan explained.
“Our members currently feel like they are getting no support and are being left to deal with the worst of this virus by themselves.
“If staff are saying this is how unsafe it is, well, then everybody can’t remain silent.
“The Government cannot put their heads in the sand, COVID is still a very dangerous and highly transmissible virus that over 1,600 in hospitals are infected with the virus.
“Our members feel like they have been thrown to the wolves.
“They were already burned out after two years of COVID but now we are back to the bad old days of serious hospital overcrowding, by the time this month is over we will have had the worst March since the INMO began counting trolleys in 2006.
“Not only do we have record overcrowding, if the trends continue as predicted then we will have record levels of staff out sick from COVID,” she concluded.
IAEM President Fergal Hickey said that the situation was the worst that he and his colleagues had seen in his career.
“The situation at present is intolerable for all who work in our hospitals,” he said.
“Our hospitals have been hanging together by a thread of goodwill of staff but that is about to snap.
“The problem of overcrowding at this level is not a new phenomenon in our hospitals. Medical professionals have been sounding the alarm for a long time now.
“Immediate stronger public health measures are needed – not doing so and abandoning the hospitals to the inevitable will lead to preventable unnecessary higher levels of illness requiring hospital admission and, sadly, for some a fatal outcome. “
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