The level of overcrowding at the region’s main hospital hit a three-year low in October, despite recording the highest trolley numbers in the country.
The latest report from nursing organisation the INMO shows an 18% drop in the number of people left waiting for beds at University Hospital Limerick last month, compared to the same period last year.
Ennis General Hospital also experienced a drop in trolley numbers.
University Hospital Limerick was the busiest in the country once again last month, but despite this, was the quietest its been for the month of October, in three years.
According to the INMO’s latest report, 719 people were left waiting for beds across the month, down from 885 in the same period last year.
At Ennis General, there was a 54% drop in trolley numbers, from 309 in October 2016 to 142 this year.
But the picture wasn’t as bright across the first 10 months of the year, with University Hospital Limerick recording it’s highest ever level of overcrowding – 7,238 people were left waiting for beds between January and October.
The INMO says the figures “yet again, confirm the obvious reality that our public health service is critically short of acute hospital beds” which the union says is “having a serious, detrimental and harmful effect upon patient care”.
The union will meet with the Health and Safety Authority at the end of this month, following its request for unannounced inspections of Emergency Departments.
