Overcrowding levels at the region’s main hospital are now 65 percent higher than they were before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
1,823 people were without a bed during the month of May at University Hospital Limerick, which is by far the highest number of any hospital in the country.
Back in May of 2012, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation recorded 263 patients in UHL throughout the entire month.
A decade later, and that number has increased nearly sevenfold in May of 2022.
The 1,823 people who were waiting for a bed in Dooradoyle last month was more than twice the next busiest facility, which was Cork University Hospital where 896 people waited during May.
It means around 59 patients a day were on average on trolleys in UHL’s emergency department or overflow areas of wards in the past 31 days.
More than 1 in every 5 people who had to wait for a bed in an Irish hospital in May did so at University Hospital Limerick.
The INMO earlier this week called for the HSE’s Emergency Taskforce to be convened when 118 patients were documented as being on trolleys at UHL on Monday, which is the second highest number ever recorded.
This number dropped slightly to 95 yesterday.
An expert group set up to examine issues relating to overcrowding in Dooradoyle is set to report back to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly later this month.
