The number of nurses working in one of the west's busiest Emergency Departments is to be increased in an attempt to tackle overcrowding there, it has been announced.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), agreement has finally been reached in relation to University Hospital Galway (UHG) following months of talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).

As part of the agreement, four extra nurse are to be rostered in the hospital's ED every day, increasing the number from 10 to 14. Meanwhile 35 additional beds are to be opened in Merlin Park University Hospital and Ballinasloe ‘to assist UHG with delayed discharges'.

The INMO also noted that management has committed to extra support staff, including healthcare assistants and porters.

Meanwhile, an ‘early date has been promised for the building of a new 75-bedded unit'.

"It has been acknowledged that the existing ED is not fit for purpose and approval is being sought for construction of a new ED," the INMO said.

It described the commitment to recruit extra nurses and increase bed capacity as a ‘positive outcome' for staff ‘who have continued to struggle with unmanageable workloads on a daily basis due to persistent overcrowding and understaffing'.

"We must never see our sick and elderly having to endure these conditions again. Every effort must now be made to bring additional beds on stream as a matter of urgency.

"We are now calling for an aggressive recruitment campaign to have the posts filled immediately in order to alleviate the continued suffering of patients in inhumane conditions and to allow our members to provide safe care," commented INMO industrial relations officer, Clare Treacy.