Hospital overcrowding sees 600 left on trolleys

ALMOST 600 patients were left on trolleys in our hospitals yesterday, figures revealed.

There were 591 people on trolleys in hospitals across the country, with 411 in emergency departments and 180 on wards, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

Worst hit with overcrowding was Cork University Hospital, with a total of 51 patients left waiting on trolleys – 37 in the ED and 14 in wards.

A spokesperson for the South/ South West Hospital Group said: ‘For today’s (April 10) 8am Trolley Count, Cork University Hospital reported through the Special Delivery Unit a total of 28 patients were awaiting admission to an inpatient bed.

‘The Hospital Executive and Clinical Teams are monitoring the situation and every effort is being made to increase capacity for inpatient admissions.’

Elsewhere yesterday, University College Hospital, Galway had 43 patients on trolleys, South Tipperary General Hospital had 39, and St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny had 38, according to the INMO.

A HSE spokesperson said that yesterday, ‘emergency departments reported 444 patients on hospital trolleys awaiting admission to hospital’. They added: ‘The number of patients reported at 2pm had reduced by 24% to 336 with further reductions expected by 8pm.

‘The number of patient presenting to ED has increased by 8% compared to last year and the number of patients admitted from ED has also increased by over 5% when compared to the same time last year.’

Last month was the worst March on record for patients being left waiting on trolleys.

Some 10,511 people, including 191 children, had to wait for inpatient beds, with a total of 3,112 waiting for care in one week. Another record was broken in March, when 714 people waited on trolleys in one day – the highest number ever.