471 admitted patients are waiting for hospital beds today according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. The number of patients on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick is again the highest in Ireland with 106 admitted patients without a bed. 55 of the patients are on trolleys or chairs in the Emergency Department(ED) while 51 of the admitted patients are accommodated by placing their trolleys in some ward of the hospital. The scale of overcrowding in UHL is more than double that experienced at University Hospital Galway, the second highest trolley total, with 43 patients on trolleys today. The nursing union compiles the data from 32 public hospitals across the country at 8am each day.
The Mid West Hospital Campaign Group announced this week that it will put forward Melanie Sheehan Cleary as candidate in the Limerick Constituency in the General Election to focus attention on the campaign for additional EDs and acute beds in the Mid West Region to alleviate overcrowding. Ms Sheehan Cleary is a mother-of-six children, including Eve Cleary who died in 2019, hours after she was discharged from University Hospital Limerick. Earlier this year the Sheehan Cleary family settled a High Court action over Eve’s death with the HSE and UHL.
Tipperary University Hospital in Clonmel reports 12 admitted patients on trolleys today while visiting restrictions continue on four wards at the Clonmel hospital due to a Covid outbreak.
