The top 5 most overcrowded hospitals include in first place University Hospital Limerick reporting 1,857 patients spending time on trolleys, Cork is second highest with 1,310 patients receiving care while on a trolley. There is a dramatic difference between the two most overcrowded hospitals and three hospitals that make up the five most overcrowded hospitals. University Hospital Galway has 896 patients
Sligo University Hospital, 751 patients and Tallaght University Hospital – 704 patients.
The figures show the absolutely chronic overcrowding in UHL – more the double the figures in Galway, Sligo or Tallaght.
The Union notes that the May overcrowding is higher than the January 2023 situation and unless action is taken the winter period will be chaotic. Staff have no reprieve from overcrowding in some hospitals and this is causing burnout and staff exits according to the union.
The union also warns that the Emergency Department Taskforce was yesterday provided with stark warnings from public health experts that Ireland is facing into another difficult winter when it comes to RSV and influenza. The union wants 3 specific actions – the proper planning of the cancellation of non-urgent elective surgery, pre-arranged agreements with private acute hospitals to provide non-urgent elective surgery; and special measures to retain and recruit frontline staff.
