Psychiatric patients have been left to sleep on the floor of University Hospital Waterford hospital due to overcrowding.

An “unusually high” number of patients that were referred to University Hospital Waterford’s psychiatric unit were forced to sleep on the ground or on armchairs as the 44-bed ward was filled to capacity. 

The ward took in 54 patients, leaving 10 without a bed over the weekend.

The patients were referred to the Department of Psychiatry – which serves Waterford and Wexford – after being assessed by a consultant psychiatrist.

When the ward is full, patients are offered chairs and blankets when a bed is not available as trolleys are not allowed in the unit.

General Secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA), Peter Hughes, told Independent.ie that overcrowding has been an ongoing issue. 

“We have been highlighting this for two years at this stage. There’s constant overcrowding, it’s licenced for 44 beds. Regularly, they would have over capacity.

“That means the service users are resorted to sleeping either in two chairs pulled together with the duvet over them or sleeping on the floor on a duvet. It was unprecedented at the weekend that there were 10 at one stage over the capacity. For the majority of the weekend there was 8 over capacity,” he said.

“We’ve seen the photos, and we’d be aware that that would be a situation where a screen would be put around. It’s totally undignified and anti-therapeutic. It’s caused an awful lot of tension and distress over both service users and staff. Our staff, you’re talking about very professional nurses here having to work to be professional in those type of conditions and provide a high level of quality care -it’s almost impossible.”

Sinn Fein councillor John Hearne said the situation is “disgraceful”.

“This is the disgraceful way patients are being treated in the Psychiatric Unit at University Hospital Waterford. The most vulnerable patients in our care without beds having to sleep on the floor or in armchairs.

“Imagine yourself going on to a ward in a distressed state and being told you have to sleep in a corridor with only a screen to give you dignity,” he said.

TD David Cullinane said pressure on the service is partly due to the closure of St Senan’s Psychiatric Hospital in Co Wexford.

“Part of the problem St Senan’s Psychiatric Unit in Wexford was closed a number of years ago. People in Wexford were referred to Waterford, but they didn’t increase the capacity and I think that’s part of the problem,” he said.

“It means that we’re dealing with that legacy. There’s two issues – one, there’s no excuse for cleanliness and issues that really need to be sorted by the management of the service. The other is that the government need to step up to the plate and make sure that there’s appropriate capacity and staffing levels to make sure we don’t have the problem of overcrowding,” he said.

A spokesperson for the HSE acknowledged a “high number of involuntary referrals” and said additional measures to relieve pressure on the department were employed to the “fullest extent possible.”

“It is acknowledged that there can at times be issues of overcapacity in the Department of Psychiatry.

“This was particularly the case over the last week where the unit had to deal with an unusually high number of involuntary referrals,” the spokesperson said.

“In instances of overcapacity additional measures  including increased staffing and alternative external placement are applied and these measures have been deployed to the fullest extent possible in recent days.”

They continued: “In cases where the number of patients in urgent need of a bed exceeds 44 the priority is to ensure that any additional patients are accommodated in a safe environment while awaiting a bed.

“In some cases, patients will need to wait overnight for a bed in the unit and in such cases, every effort will be made to make them as comfortable as possible. In these cases patients may be offered chairs and blankets. Trolleys are not permitted to be used in the psychiatric unit.”

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