The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is seeking an urent meeting with CEO, as trolley numbers spiral “completely out of hand”.
University Hospital Limerick is by far the most overcrowded in the country today, with 116 patients left waiting for beds there this morning, the second highest number ever recorded at any hospital in the country.
They’re among more than 600 patients waiting on trolleys today.
The latest trolleywatch analysis from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation shows there 651 admitted patients waiting for beds at hospitals across the country this morning.
University Hospital Limerick is by far the busiest in the country, with 116 patients waiting on trolleys – 56 of those were in the Emergency Department and the remaining 60 accommodated in overflow areas of wards.
It’s the second highest number of any hospital in the country since records began, with the highest number of 126 recorded at UHL in April last year.
High levels of presentations have led to all but the most time-critical elective surgery being cancelled today at the Dooradoyle facility and hospital management say the situation is being kept under constant review.
The UL Hospitals Group is asking the public to consider all available healthcare options, such your GP, GP out of hours services and the injury unit at Ennis General to help avoid excessively long waits.
The INMO says it’s clear that hospital overcrowding is out of control once again and that the level of overcrowding in some of the country’s Emergency Departments warrants a national response.
The nurse’s union says it’s been in contact with the new Chief Executive Officer of the Health Service Executive seeking an urgent meeting in the next 24 hours ahead of what will be an extremely busy bank holiday weekend.
The INMO is warning that the system is now “completely overwhelmed” and that targeted measures are needed to tackle this crisis, particularly in the Midwest, where it says overcrowding is “completely out of hand”.
The Midwest Hospitals Campaign insists, meanwhile, that action, rather than words is urgently needed to tackle hospital overcrowding in the short term.
Spokesperson Marie Mc Mahon, who’s husband died on a trolley in 2018, has been telling Clare FM’s Fiona Cahill that she can’t understand the lack of urgency around dealing with the crisis in the Midwest.
Listen back to the full interview here:
