A total of 554 admitted patients are waiting for hospital beds this morning, according to today's Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) Trolley Watch.
Of this group, 426 patients are waiting in the emergency department, while 128 are in wards elsewhere in the hospital.
The hospital with the most patients waiting for beds is University Hospital Limerick (UHL), where there are 90 people on trolleys. In UHL, 39 people are waiting in the emergency department with 51 people in wards elsewhere.
UHL is followed by Cork University Hospital (CUH) where there are 63 patients waiting for beds, and University College Hospital Galway (48 patients).
The worst affected hospital in Dublin is Tallaght University Hospital, where there are 38 people on trolleys.
The INMO Trolley Watch counts the number of patients who have been admitted to acute hospitals, but who are waiting for a free bed.
These patients are often being treated on trolleys in corridors, "but they may also be on chairs, in waiting rooms, or simply wherever there’s space". The INMO started Trolley Watch in 2004.
