The number of patients waiting for treatment on trolleys is “out of control” according to the chief of the nurses’ union.
The latest count from the INMO (Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation) revealed that there were 704 people on trolleys in hospital corridors yesterday.
The all-time record came on January 4th this year when there were 931 waiting on a single morning, but that was during the height of winter when overcrowding is always far worse in the health service.
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INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: “We are seeing yet another predictable post-bank holiday surge in hospital overcrowding.
“Of the five bank holidays we have had so far this year, we have seen out of control numbers of patients on trolleys in the days following.
“This level of overcrowding must not be allowed to continue further into the year. Senior decision makers in both the HSE and Government must come together now to develop a year-round plan to tackle this crisis.”
In a statement on the worrying figures, the HSE said: “It regrets that patients, particularly those who are non-urgent, may expect to experience long waiting times.
"Hospitals and our staff are working hard to do all they can to reduce the length of time patients wait in EDs."
The hospitals worst affected yesterday were University Hospital Limerick with 105 patients waiting, Cork University Hospital with 68 patients waiting, Tallaght University Hospital with 51 patients waiting and Sligo University Hospital with 44 patients stuck on trolleys yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, the INMO’s annual conference kicks off in Killarney today.
Today’s sessions will hear about the exodus of graduate nurses overseas, the struggle for nurses to meet the spiralling cost of living on poor wages and the unacceptable working conditions many are exposed to.
There will be survey results and reports presented over the two years of the conference, which takes place in the INEC (Irish National Event Centre) conference centre, part of Killarney’s Gleneagle Hotel.
Some of the keynote speakers who are not INMO and are due to speak at the conference this afternoon include Owen Reidy, General Secretary of Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Elizabeth Adams, President European Federation of Nurses Associations, Sarah Benson, Chief Executive Officer of Women’s Aid, Ireland and Rory Hearne, Author and Assistant Professor/Lecturer in Social Policy, Department of Applied Social Studies, NUI, Maynooth.
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