Overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick(UHL) is causing concern again today. Data from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation reveals that 122 admitted patients are on trolleys at the hospital – the figure for yesterday was 127 admitted patients on trolleys in UHL. The Limerick hospital is by far the most overcrowded as the hospital with the second highest trolley count, Cork University Hospital, is reporting 69 admitted patients on trolleys today. The INMO says the overcrowding in UHL is “completely out of kilter with the time of year.”
There are 5 admitted patients on trolleys in Tipperary University Hospital in Clonmel today. Nationally 436 admitted patients are waiting for beds in the nation’s 32 public hospitals today according to the data.
The INMO says the HSE’s latest trolleys figures do not reflect the reality of the sheer volume of patients who are being treated on trolleys or in other inappropriate bed spaces coupled with the fact that nurses and midwives are constantly working short staffed in hospitals in the middle of a government-backed recruitment freeze being absolutely unacceptable. The Union has referred the issue of safe staffing levels to the Workplace Relations Commission.
