Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in plea to public as hospitals under “extreme pressure”

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has pleaded with the public to stay at home as hospitals face “extreme pressure” due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

In a statement issued earlier today, the INMO said that it has been contacted by frontline health workers expressing concern about a “major increase in the number of patients presenting along with high levels of staff out on Covid leave or for self-isolation.”

The statement goes on to say that Cork University Hospital has “1oo nurses out for Covid reasons” and that one ward at the hospital has been closed as “there were only four nurses available to staff it.”

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that “what we are hearing from members across the country is deeply disturbing. The progress we made on keeping case numbers down seems to be completely undone. Frontline staff are running three services in parallel – a Covid health service, a non-Covid health service and mass vaccination scheme.”

Ní Sheaghdha called on the public to “stay at home and strictly follow public health advice. The vaccine is being rolled out – we simply need to keep the cases down.”

On Saturday, 3,394 new cases of Covid-19 were reported along with four additional deaths.

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