Hospitals are not safe for patients or staff, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has warned.
General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said because of soaring Covid-19 cases the health service is no longer a safe environment for healthcare workers or vulnerable patients.
She continued: “The important point is that the pandemic is not over.
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“We’re very concerned about the focus at the moment on a general view that the pandemic no longer exists. Well, in Irish hospitals and in Irish healthcare facilities it most certainly is an extraordinary battle on a daily basis.”
She said that staff were telling the trade union that hospitals were not safe, with Ireland recording tens of thousands of cases of Covid-19 in recent days and hospital numbers climbing to nearly 1,500.
Ms Ni Sheaghdha told RTE radio: “The HSE’s own figures and the outbreak incidences are way too high.”
She said that “more has to be done” by the HSE and the Government.
Ms Ni Sheaghdha added: “If staff are saying this is how unsafe it is, well, then everybody can’t remain silent.
“It’s unsafe for staff. It is most certainly is unsafe for patients. That should be a concern.” A reduction in the seven-day isolation period has been mooted as a way to solve the mass absences due to Covid-19 that have hit key sectors, including the health service, in recent weeks.
But Ms Ni Sheaghdha rejected such a proposal as a bad idea.
She continued: “I think the answer here is not, should we compromise care and should we put cross infection on the lesser footing. I think that would be a mistake.”
Instead, she pointed to simple measures such as increased mask wearing as one way to reduce the spread of the virus.
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