Nurses have reported a 5% reduction in the level of overcrowding at the region’s main hospital this month, compared to the same period last year.
The latest monthly analysis from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation shows close to 2,000 patients were left waiting for beds at University Hospital Limerick in the month of March.
1,961 admitted patients were left waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick this month, according to the INMO’s latest trolleywatch analysis.
It’s the first time since the pandemic took hold in 2019 that there’s been a reduction in trolley numbers at the Dooradoyle facility during the month of March, with 119 fewer patients waiting for beds than the same month in 2023.
UHL was still by far the most overcrowded hospital in the country over the past four weeks though, with 882 more patients on trolleys than the next busiest facilty; Cork University Hospital.
Ennis General also saw a reduction in the number of patients waiting for beds, from 105 in March 2023, to 62 this month.
Overall, 9,856 patients went without a hospital bed this month, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, which has raised concern about overcrowding heading into the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
The nurses’ union says members rostered to work over the coming days are “more and more concerned about the ever-increasing risks associated with the provision of services in a constantly overcrowded and a progressively under-staffed service”.
The INMO says officials were joined by experienced Directors and Assistant Directors of Nursing at the WRC yesterday to give the real human impact the recruitment freeze is having on patients, nurses and midwives.
The union says progress was made at the WRC, and talks will continue.
