Overcrowding eases at Naas Hospital in May
Health
There was a dramatic fall in the level of overcrowding at Naas Hospital in May when compared with the same month last year.
A total of 158 people were without a bed on admission and this compares with 382 in May 2023.
However, both the figures for May 2022 (118) and May 2021 (157) were lower than last month.
At Portlaoise Hospital there were 101 patients on trolleys last month - or three more than a year previously.
There was not a single patient on a trolley at Tullamore Hospital either last month or the previous May.
The most overcrowded hospital in the country in May was, unsurprisingly, University Hospital Limerick with 2285 patients on trolleys followed by Cork University Hospital (1,105); University Hospital Galway (858); Tallaght University Hospital (638) and Mater University Hospital (622).
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: “Despite winter being well and truly over, we are continuing to see an unacceptable number of people being treated on trolleys, chairs or in other inappropriate bed spaces in Irish hospitals this month. The fact that we have seen over 1,310 children on trolleys so far this year is a huge cause of concern.
“The HSE has now allowed us to get in a situation where over five hundred people a day on trolleys in May has been completely normalised and does not seem to warrant an emergency response.”
She added it is time for the HSE and Department of Health to bring all stakeholders together (whether that be through the Emergency Department Task Force or another forum) to discuss “the clinical implications the recruitment moratorium is having on the ability to provide safe and timely care.”
She added the situation in the midwest is of huge concern to the INMO and there has been a 23% increase in the number of people on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick .
“Despite an expert team being in the hospital for the month of May, there were only six days where there were less than one hundred people on trolleys on the Dooradoyle campus.”
Ms Ní Sheaghdha said there are dangerous levels of overcrowding in Cork and Dublin also.
“The HSE must not let this problem continue to grow over the summer months. They must take action now and immediately end their recruitment embargo on nursing and midwifery grades.”