University Hospital Limerick recorded more than double the number of patients on trolleys than the next busiest facility across the past month.
The latest figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show 2,055 admitted patients were left waiting for beds at the region’s main hospital in May, 759 of those in the Emergency Department.
At Galway University Hospital, by comparison, 919 patients were left waiting on trolleys, while at Cork University Hospital the figure was 673 and the combined total for all ten Eastern hospitals was 1,741.
The nurses’ union says unacceptable levels of overcrowding are being experienced in the Midwest and West and that the delivery of fully-staffed, additional capacity must be a priority for the HSE in these areas.
