The number of admitted patients waiting for beds at University Hospital Limerick has jumped by close to a quarter this month, compared to the same time last year.
The latest analysis from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation shows there were almost 2,000 patients on trolleys at the region’s main hospital in April.
11,070 patients, including 258 children, were admitted to an Irish hospital without a bed in April, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
Perhaps most notably, the three most overcrowded hospitals in the country were in the Midwest, west and Southwest, with University Hospital Limerick once again the busiest in the country.
1,971 admitted patients were left waiting for beds across the four weeks, representing a 24% increase on the same month last year.
Galway University Hospital was the second busiest in April, with 1,208 patients on trolleys and at Cork University Hospital, 1,096 admitted patients were left waiting for a hospital bed.
Meanwhile, nurses at Ennis General Hospital recorded a 410% increase in trolley numbers, from 20 in April 2023, to 102 this month.
In a statement to Clare FM, the INMO says the fact we’re seeing this level of overcrowding nationally in April makes it “clear that the HSE have not learned any lessons when it comes to reducing the number of patients on trolleys”.
The nurses’ and midwives union also says “members are reporting that challenges associated with overcrowding are being worsened by the HSE’s recruitment moratorium”.
This, it says, is making it “impossible to staff any ward safely or to expand nursing services into the community to develop the much needed services as set out in Sláintecare”.
