Overcrowding at University Hospital Galway (UHG) is making it increasingly difficult to attract qualified staff to Galway, with many choosing to work in better-resourced clinics, a Galway-based emergency consultant has claimed.

Mr James Binchy, Emergency Consultant at UCHG and secretary of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, has hit out at the HSE for their lack of action in tackling the constant problem of overcrowding at the hospital.

"There have been difficulties in recruiting medical personnel at the hospital. There are a number of reasons for this. First of all, there is a shortage of adequately trained staff and secondly, it is hard to persuade them to come to an over-crowded and under resourced department. It is not a nice environment to work in and people are going to take the easier option," said Mr Binchy.

While the HSE has denied claims of an overcrowding crisis at the hospital, Mr Binchy said that they are simply avoiding the problem and that serious steps must be taken to alleviate the situation.

"The HSE are denying that there is a problem but they don't work in the emergency department every day. They don't come into work in the morning, seeing all those people on trolleys. They are basing their comments on unreliable figures and to be honest, I think they are believing their own spin.

"There are a lot of other issues. Many emergency departments all over the country are completely unfit for purpose. They shouldn't be operating the way they are and until this is addressed, overcrowding is going to continue to be a problem. The HSE has not taken any decisive action to tackle the problem and it's just not good enough," he said.

Irish Nurses Organisation Galway Industrial Relations Officer, Noreen Muldoon, said many nurses are feeling stressed by the pressure piled on them in Galway's busy emergency department.

"The overcrowding at GUH is a real concern to nurses and a cause of great stress. An emergency department is a place where there is a lot of pressure anyway, but when you have so many people waiting around on trolleys, it becomes a ward as well. An A&E department is totally unsuitable for in-patient care and when nurses see their patient's dignity and care being compromised, this is a huge cause of stress.

"Locally, they are trying to do as much as they can, utilising more beds in the two hospitals but the major problem is a national one. The money allocated to running the health system in the budget this year is simply not enough to cater for the expanding population and more and more problems are going to arise if this lack of resources continues."

According to the HSE, there were 57,252 attendances at the Emergency Department in 2006 compared to 61,636 attendances in 2007 and a spokesperson said they remain committed to reducing waiting times at the hospital.

"The HSE remains steadfastly committed to significantly reducing waiting times in the Emergency Department at University Hospital Galway. In the last two years, improvements have been achieved and more will follow.

"Nationally, a number of additional initiatives are also being implemented under this year's winter initiative programme in addition to last year's initiatives (promotion and prevention, hospital avoidance and capacity). These initiatives include a reduction in the average length of stay, a drive to improve discharge planning, increased day case rates, surgery on the day of admission and an increase in access to diagnostics."

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