Worst-ever February for overcrowding at St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny

More patients were left waiting for a bed at St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny this month than any previous February, according to INMO records.

A total of 519 people were on trolleys and wards during the month - up from 128 in the same month last year. In 2020 it was 219, but in the first year that the INMO kept records for St Luke's (2011), the figure was just 26.

The scale of the hospital overcrowding has prompted INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha to urge plans to be stepped up - specifically mentioning St Luke's.

“It has been an incredibly difficult month in Irish hospitals with consistent overcrowding in all parts of the country.," she said.

“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 in adequate 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 political system gets a real grasp of this country-wide problem that exists within our health service.”