UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick (UHL) was once again the most overcrowded hospital in the country in September, with 1,735 admitted patients reported as being treated on trolleys.
Cork University Hospital was the second most overcrowded across September, with 1,263 waiting for a bed having been admitted through the emergency department.
Over 9,635 patients were treated in hospital without a bed throughout last month, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation though its Trolley Watch tally.
Over 3,000 patients have been treated on trolleys in the three most overcrowded hospitals alone, according to the nurses union.
The INMO is now calling for an immediate end to all recruitment caps and the urgent implementation of the government’s safe staffing framework to help manage the current increase in hospital overcrowding.
INMO deputy general secretary Dr Edward Mathews said that “we are now heading into the hardest period of the year without enough staff to safely care for patients, and the number of people who will be treated on trolleys will continue to grow over the coming months”.
The union boss added that “our members are extremely discouraged to be heading into another winter period without safe staffing levels, and with a HSE strategy in place to prevent recruitment into vacant positions”.
“Additional bed capacity must be prioritised and all obstacles to recruiting nurses and midwives need to be removed urgently. Continuing to obstruct safe staffing in this way is simply irresponsible, and will without a doubt lead to worse outcomes for patients this winter.”
