Nurses at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar have called for an urgent meeting with the HSE to discuss the staffing crisis at the hospital and the effect this is having on patient care.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which recently held an urgent meeting with its members in Mullingar, major concern has been expressed about the ‘acute shortage of staff in all areas of the hospital'.

The organisation insisted that this is leading to patient care being compromised. It said that patient overcrowding is now a ‘daily reality' for all parts of the hospital and the HSE has ‘made no effort to address this unacceptable clinical environment'.

"The HSE has now begun cancelling leave at short notice. This is only creating a situation where nurses and midwives are working long hours without a break, or without proper rest, in an overcrowded and clinically dangerous environment," the INMO claimed.

According to INMO industrial relations officer, Derek Reilly, the problems at the hospital are down to a ban on recruitment.

"This is now having a serious and detrimental effect upon patient care and staff workloads. The hospital has put financial considerations above those of patient care, which is totally unacceptable and cannot continue," he insisted.

He added that nurses and midwives ‘simply want to provide safe, high-quality care to patients, mothers and babies' at the hospital, but this will only be achieved ‘when management acknowledge the extent of the current crisis and employ additional nursing staff'.