The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called for Beaumont Hospital in Dublin to go off call due to ‘unsafe conditions in its Emergency Department (ED)'.

The call was made on Wednesday evening, At this time, 75 patients were in the ED, 33 of whom were waiting for an inpatient bed.

The INMO pointed out that the hospital has been ‘in crisis all week', and did go off call for two hours on Tuesday. However since then, ‘ambulances have continued to come in with very sick patients, compounding the situation further'.

"The hospital is in crisis since Monday yet the appropriate actions have not been taken to address the severe overcrowding levels. It is imperative that the hospital goes off call immediately and remains off call until such time that the situation is brought under control," commented INMO industrial relations officer, Lorraine Monaghan.