Eight-in-ten nurses have cared for patients in inappropriate settings, according to a new survey from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The INMO has released the results of their first ‘Behind the Trolley Numbers’ survey completed by nurses in the country’s acute hospitals on their experiences of treating patients on trolleys or in hospital corridors.

The survey was targeted not only at nurses treating patients in Emergency Departments, but also those working in hospital wards where patients are being treated without an appropriate bed.

The survey was carried out from January 19th to January 31st - a period when over 6,395 patients were admitted to hospital without a bed.

85.28% of these respondents believe that patient care and safety were compromised in these settings.

A busy hospital ward with nurses and a trolley, 21-4-16. Image: Mark Thomas / Alamy

71.94% of respondents have observed patient safety incidents directly related to inappropriate care settings such as falls, medication and treatment delays.

Respondents highlighted those patients endured a complete lack of privacy and dignity while being treated on a trolley.

The vast majority of respondents stated that increasing bed capacity (83.33%) and recruiting more nursing staff (80.48%) were key to addressing the issue of hospital overcrowding.

On Newstalk Breakfast, INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said this new survey is illustrating that patients who are being nursed on a trolly have compromised care.

“So for example, many patients are now being nursed in corridors, both in the emergency department but also on wards,” she said.

“We now have what the HSE are terming ‘surge capacity’.

“What that actually is, is areas that predominantly are not suitable for patients, such as porches, such as rooms where there's no oxygen points or suction points, which are necessary to provide acute care - because when you need them, you need them.

“When you're just looking at the numbers, and we produce the numbers every single day, your listeners will know that the real story behind that is there are people in very compromised positions in hospitals.”

A busy hospital. Image: Alamy

Ms Ní Sheaghdha said the main issue identified by INMO members is a complacency to trolleys.

“The stats that the HSE have produced this January tell us that fewer people attend [hospitals] than this time last year, yet our trolley count was almost 1,000 more,” she said.

“So there's something wrong with the process - there's a complacency to trolleys.

“Managements are now thinking that once a patient is on a trolley, sure it's okay, once it's not in the Emergency Departments - we don't accept that.

“The focus should not be on reducing the ED trolley count - the focus should be on getting the best place for the patient to be housed.”

Ms Ní Sheaghdha said the embargo on recruitment for the HSE needs to be lifted so the hospitals can get more staff and get more beds.

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A patient sits on a hospital bed, Alamy