Nurses’ representatives have slammed rising hospital overcrowding as “back to the bad old days” after Covid.
The latest figures show there were almost 10,000 (9,689) people left waiting on trolleys in hospitals during February.
The count from the INMO (Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation) is the highest since 2019, before the Covid pandemic hit, when there were 8,500 waiting on trolleys in February 2019.
The worsening situation was blasted by the General Secretary of the INMO, Phil Ní Sheaghdha.
And Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health David Cullinane has called for the Minister for Health to ensure that the Emergency Department Taskforce is reconvened.
He added that insufficient funding from Government is fuelling the crisis.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha said: “It has been an incredibly difficult month in Irish hospitals with consistent overcrowding in all parts of the country.
“Our nurses and midwives are under severe pressure, they are dealing with huge numbers of COVID and non-COVID patients presenting at emergency departments coupled with inadequate staffing levels.
“We are once again back in the bad old days of hospital overcrowding, with numbers of patients on trolleys now exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
“The INMO has been sounding the alarm on this situation for too long.
“Our members are sick of apologising for the state of our health service to patients who have been waiting an unacceptable amount of time to be treated.
“This isn’t an issue that is confined to one part of the country, aside from the top five overcrowded hospitals, we have seen significant overcrowding in St. Vincent’s University Hospital (585 patients) St. Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny (519 patients), Tipperary University Hospital (216 patients) Midlands Regional Mullingar (266 patients).
“The Saolta Hospital Group alone makes up for 30% of overcrowding in February.
“Bespoke plans to tackle overcrowding in each individual hospital are now badly needed.
“We know that if a patient is on a trolley for more than five hours it can have a significant knock-on impact on their health and indeed their mortality.
“State agencies such as the Department of Health, HIQA and the HSE need to step up to their responsibilities they have here and take decisive action.
“It is extremely disappointing that the HSE has not prioritised convening the Emergency Department Taskforce despite numerous requests.
“The INMO looks forward to presenting these issues at the Oireachtas Health Committee on March 9.
“It is very important that the political system gets a real grasp of this country-wide problem that exists within our health service.”
Mr Cullinane said: “It is very troubling to learn that nearly 10,000 people were waiting on trolleys or in wards without a hospital bed this month.
“This underlines the failure of government to properly resource enough beds and staff for hospitals to safely manage patients.
“The high trolley count indicates that some hospitals are running dangerously over capacity.
“This will have had consequences for patient care and the cancellation of surgeries and appointments."
