Patient advocates are warning that serious overcrowding at the psychiatric unit in University Hospital Waterford is causing “intolerable distress” for patients and staff.

It comes after images emerged of patients sleeping on the floor of the unit as well as in chairs.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) said there were 54 patients in the 44 bed unit earlier in the week.

Some of the images showing the conditions in University Hospital Waterford’s psychiatric units this week where patients have reportedly had to sleep on the floor and chairs pic.twitter.com/mOYpQIYzPl

— Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) November 1, 2019

The Labour Party health spokesperson Alan Kelly said the situation is “disgraceful.”

“In 2019, the fact that we have people sleeping on the floor with blankets thrown over them; with screens around them; on chairs and being left in this situation is nothing short of disgraceful,” he said.

“We need to see how more facilities more beds can be provided for people.

“As we lead into a pretty vulnerable time for people, leading up to Christmas and leading up to the New Year, this situation is obviously going to get worse.”

"Intolerable"

In a statement, the PNA said overcrowding in the Waterford’s mental health services has reached unprecedented levels and is placing staff under intolerable pressure.

It said ten beds assigned to Waterford Mental Health Services at St Patrick’s hospital in Dublin are also full and three more patients had to be transferred to Kilkenny which is now also full.

PNA Industrial Relations Officer, Michael Hayes said the situation is continuing to deteriorate despite repeated warnings from the association.

“This situation has been building for some months and is now causing intolerable distress to already vulnerable patients and staff alike,” he said.

“We have had four assaults on staff over the weekend alone and this is on top of a series of assaults in recent months.”

Warnings

He said repeated warnings that patients were forced to sleep on chairs have “fallen on deaf ears” with the service becoming “increasingly chaotic resulting in serious repercussions for service users, staff and standards of care.”

“This situation cannot be allowed to continue and the under resourcing and under staffing of the Waterford mental health services must be addressed as a matter of urgency,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Mental Health Commission said the situation is “absolutely unacceptable.”