Number of patients of trolleys surpasses 100,000 for 2019
The number of patients waiting for beds on hospital trolleys has surpassed 100,000 for the calendar year, the INMO have said.
It is only the second time ever this number has been hit and it has come over two weeks earlier than last year.
With 593 waiting for beds this morning, that brought the figures for 2019 to date up to 100,457.
This dubious landmark was surpassed on November 28 in 2018 - meaning that number was reached 17 days earlier this year as the hospital overcrowding crisis shows no sign of slowing down.
“The Irish health service continues to break records in the worst possible way. This simply does not happen in other countries. The only acceptable number for patients on trolleys is zero," said INMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha.
“Behind each number is a vulnerable patient trapped in undignified and unsafe conditions, often on a corridor."
"The HSE’s recruitment freeze simply has to go: we need an infusion of qualified, frontline staff to stabilise the health service. Without it, this problem will rapidly accelerate as we move into winter,” she added.
The five worst-hit hospitals so far this year are:
- University Hospital Limerick: 11,901
- Cork University Hospital: 9,496
- University Hospital Galway: 6,870
- South Tipperary General Hospital: 6,040
- University Hospital Waterford: 5,522
The INMO counts admitted patients without beds in 36 Irish hospitals at 8am. They include emergency departments and wards elsewhere in the hospital.
