Health chiefs have been accused of ‘putting up a smokescreen’ to disguise the crisis in Galway’s hospitals.

This comes after Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly issued a statement celebrating “significant improvement” in Emergency Department overcrowding across the West – at the same time as UHG experiences unprecedented presentations.

Among the figures set out by the Minister was a 40% reduction in patients on trolleys at Portiuncula compared to the same time last year, but Industrial Relations Officer with the INMO, Ann Burke, described Donnelly’s figures as “very selective”.

“Galway University Hospital has 30 to 40 patients on trolleys consistently for the last number of months – and this is at the height of summer,” said Ms Burke.

“I represent nurses and midwives in Galway, Mayo, Portiuncula and Roscommon and there isn’t one of those sites not on their knees trying to deliver a service,” she added.

INMO Trolley Watch counted a total of 54 patients on trolleys at UHG las Wednesday – 46 on ED trolleys and eight on trolleys within wards.

The recruitment embargo in the HSE, which was put into place amid funding shortfalls last October, was lifted on Monday last and while this needed to be done, Ms Burke warned that ‘restrictions’ placed on regional managers meant issues associated with the hiring ban would persist.

“The opening headline is the embargo is over, but back at the ranch, there are severe levels of capping on recruitment. It’s not all rosy now that it is gone,” she said.

At a meeting of Regional Health Forum West on Tuesday last, HSE Regional Executive Officer Tony Canavan said the lifting of the embargo was welcome, adding that there would be a new level of accountability for him in securing adequate staffing for Galway hospitals.

“It certainly is welcome that the recruitment pause has been shifted this week and that returns recruitment to the region with local officers acting as the decision-making authority.

“It doesn’t mean there will be a free-for-all for employment . . . we must operate within the allocated ceiling given to us – that is the bottom line,” said Mr Canavan.

It was this that would ensure staffing problems persist, said Ms Burke, who explained there were likely to be long-term ramifications from eight months of roles going unfilled.

A derogation was given for emergency care and certain other sectors of the health service earlier this year, but the best that was being offered was three-month contracts and nurses understandably took up jobs in voluntary hospitals like the Mater and St James’ in Dublin where the conditions were better, she said.

“There will be a long-term impact of this. In the context of the risks that patients, nurses and midwives were exposed to, it might not manifest right away but it will play out in one year, two years, maybe even five years in terms of delayed care,” said Ms Burke.

And it will transpire that the short-term savings made will have greater costs in years to come as that delayed care is addressed, she continued.

“Even though the embargo is now parked, it needs to be set aside in every sense. These restrictions need to be lifted and they need to listen to local directors of nursing and midwifery and give them the freedom to recruit.

“Until the HSE listens to them, we will always be talking about needing more staff, but never getting them,” said Ms Burke.

Pictured: Portiuncula…reduction in numbers of trolleys.