More people were left waiting for beds at University Hospital Limerick this month than all nine hospitals in the East of the country combined.
The latest analysis from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation shows 2,255 admitted patients were on trolleys or chairs across the month of July, compared to a combined total of 2,211 at the nine eastern hospitals.
University Hospital Limerick was by far the most overcrowded in the country once again this month, according to nurses’s union the INMO, which colates it’s information during morning rounds on weekdays.
The number of admitted patients left waiting on trolleys or chairs at the Dooradoyle facility jumped by 431, or almost a quarter in July, compared to the same month last year.
That’s more than double the next busiest facility; Galway University Hospital where 1,025 patients were waiting for a bed and is 1,256 more than Cork University Hospital, which was the third busiest facility in the country this month.
In fact, there were more people waiting for a bed at UHL alone in July, than all nine hospitals in the east of the country combined.
Ennis General Hospital also saw an increase in trolley numbers from 11 in July 2023 to 61 over the past four and a half weeks.
Nationally, over 9,755 people, including 73 children, were treated on a trolley, chair or other inappropriate bed space in hospitals in July according to the INMO.
The union says “putting additional patients on trolleys on already busy medical and surgical wards makes safe nurse staffing impossible”.
It’s calling on the HSE to set out its plan for the remainder of the year and into the beginning of 2025, to “ensure that all medical and surgical wards have the correct level of nurse staffing”.
