Record-breaking levels of overcrowding are being experienced at the region’s main hospital today.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s latest analysis shows there were 130 admitted patients on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick this morning, the highest number ever recorded at any hospital in the country.
The level of overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick has been continuing to spiral in recent weeks, as the winter fast approaches and today, records have been broken once again.
130 admitted patients were waiting for beds there this morning, according to the INMO, 62 of those in the Emergency Department.
This means there were also three times more patients on trolleys at the Dooradoyle facility, than any other hospital in the country today.
It’s also the highest level of overcrowding ever recorded at any Irish hospital since records began.
In a statement, the INMO says today’s figures comes as no surprise to members who have been working in overcrowded and understaffed wards with no reprieve for years on end.
The nurses’ union goes on to say the fact that there are more patients on trolleys across the hospital itself than in the emergency department is making the provision of safe and timely care impossible and that patient flow out of the ED is proving difficult because of the sheer volume of trolleys across the hospital.
INMO members in the hospital met last week to discuss concerns about their safety and that of their patients, with members saying they feel that none of the interventions directed by hospital management have had any positive impact to date.
The union is calling on hospital management and the HSE to outline what targeted interventions they intend to carry out to take the pressure off its members for the sake of patient safety.
