The region’s main hospital suffered from the highest level of overcrowding in the country last year.
The latest figures from the INMO show over 11,400 patients were left waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick throughout 2018, an almost 29% increase on the previous year.
Ennis General Hospital was among the hospitals with the lowest numbers waiting for beds.
The latest trolleywatch analysis from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation shows 11,437 patients were left waiting for beds at University Hospital Limerick last year.
That’s almost 2,300 more than the next busiest facility, and represents an almost 29% increase in trolley numbers, compared to the previous year.
In December alone, 790 patients were left waiting to be admitted at the Dooradoyle facility, a 5% jump on the same month in 2017.
At Ennis General Hospital, trolley numbers rose by 22% over the course of the 12 months to 214, one of the lowest levels of overcrowding in the country, and by just 1 in December alone.
The INMO says 2018 was a record year for overcrowding and continues to call on the Government to work with the union to develop ‘real proposals’ to resolve the recruitment and retention crisis in nursing.
At the end of last year 95% of INMO members voted in favour of industrial action and the union says its executive will meet early next week to set dates for strikes.
