UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick (UHL) had almost double the number of admitted patients being treated on trolleys than any other other hospital in the country in the the month of February.
The two most overcrowded hospitals last month, according to the figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s (INMO) Tolley Watch count, were University Hospital Limerick, with 1,938 patients throughout the month, and Galway University Hospital with 1,019 patients.
The UHL figures, however, do show a fall on the same period last year, when there were 2,247 admitted patients waiting for an in-hospital bed.
This comes as the Limerick hospital was noted as the most overcrowded hospital for 100 days in a row (excluding weekends and bank holidays), according to INMO stats.
This is the second time UHL the hospital hit the stark milestone in the past year, having also been reported by the Limerick Post on June 17, 2024.
Over 11,318 patients were admitted to hospitals without a bed in February nationwide, according to the INMO Trolley Watch figures.
The union has stated that this has been the worst February for hospital overcrowding on record, and the second month in a row with record overcrowding.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that “this has been the worst start of the year we have seen for hospital overcrowding since the INMO began counting trolleys in 2006”.
“So far in 2025 we have recorded over 25,290 patients waiting on trolleys for beds, including over 250 children.
“The levels of overcrowding in February were completely unacceptable. The attempts by the HSE to downplay the situation in our hospitals are extremely cynical.
“How long can we continue to deal with the same issues without extreme measures being taken to ensure this unacceptable situation does not continue into the year?
“Our members continue to work in intolerable conditions where their patients are left in undignified and sometimes dangerous environments,” she claimed, in a statement issued by INMO this past week.
“There must be a change in mindset in how we approach this overcrowding crisis across from senior decision-makers from hospital management to HSE senior management levels.”
UHL have been asked to comment on the figures.
