Mayo hospital overcrowding and under-staffing a big issue on canvass trail

INDEPENDENT general election candidate Councillor Patsy O’Brien has urged the HSE to address the deteriorating crisis at Mayo University Hospital (MUH), which, he said, is falling below expected standards due to overcrowding and under-staffing.

Councillor O’Brien has been on the canvass trail for several weeks and has met many people with lots of different issues that they want to discuss and have resolved.

However, the Hollymount-based representative insists there is one topic that is being brought to his attention on the doorsteps on a continuous basis.

“The overcrowding of the Emergency Department is a recurring topic,” he said.

Councillor O’Brien insists the multitude of unfilled posts this year due to a cost-cutting recruitment freeze on various positions has led to severe overcrowding and health and safety concerns.

“I understand in recent weeks several patients have had to share assessment cubicles with another patient in the Emergency Department,” he says. “That is a long way from the level of privacy and dignity that patients would ordinarily expect.”

This situation, he stressed, is no reflection on the hard-working staff who work within the department and other clinical areas of the hospital.

“These frontline staff deserve to be commended for the job they do and they are a credit to themselves, their families, the hospital, county Mayo and the HSE to frequently show such dedication and resilience to do their job in such a pressurised environment,” he said. “I understand support staff have also lost some of their facilities to deal with the overcrowding situation and that is another negative issue compounding the situation.”

Mayo University Hospital, he continued, is serving more than just the people of Mayo, and the facility also caters for people from counties Galway, Sligo and Roscommon on a daily basis.

“Another significant issue brought to my attention while out canvassing is the serious level of under-staffing in all areas of the hospital,” he says. “This is a massive health and safety concern for both staff and patients alike."

Mayo University hospital applied for planning permission to extend the Emergency Department and other facilities in December 2023 and it was approved last February.

However, nine months later, despite site clearance works being carried out, there has been 'no evident development on this long-awaited extension'.