End overcrowding with year-round funds

Doctors have called for year-round funding to stop overcrowding instead of only releasing extra money in winter. trolley figures for the summer show that the reduction achieved last year with temporary funding has been reversed: more than 7,000 patients spent time on trolleys in the first six months of 2017, according to the INMo.

At the Irish Medical organisation’s preBudget submission launch, junior doctor spokesman Dr Paddy Hillery said: ‘I did not feel less busy over the summer than during last winter. the numbers going through are at a high volume.’ Dr Hillery, a grandson of former president Dr Patrick Hillery, said: ‘When you have someone with no space to lie down because there are 10 to 15 patients still on trolleys, it can’t go on.’