Munster hospitals among worst affected for patients on trolleys
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha, the general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie
November saw almost 11,500 patients spend a night on a trolley in a hospital emergency department, with two Munster hospitals among the five worst affected sites.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), who gathered the data, called for elective operations to be reduced to make room for the rising number of emergency patients.
They identified 1,962 patients who could not get a hospital bed at University Hospital Limerick (UHL)alone, the worst affected in the country.
This was followed by Cork University Hospital (CUH) where 1,159 patients were left without a bed.
The next three most affected sites were Sligo University Hospital where 804 waited, Galway University Hospital where 751 waited, and the Mater University Hospital where 698 people waited for a bed.
Stark research carried out recently by the Sorbonne University in Paris found significantly increased chances of dying linked to spending even just one night on a trolley in an emergency department waiting for a bed.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha warned the numbers are simply far too high.
She said the HSE recruitment freeze, which includes nursing and midwifery posts except for graduate students, will make the situation worse for patients.
Services will be reduced, she predicted. She called on the HSE to plan for this and avoid last-minute cancellations with patients even facing cancelled operations on the day of their procedure last winter.
The data also shows 391 patients waited for a bed this month at the Mercy University Hospital, down from 582 during the same period last year.
Among hospitals with an emergency department, Connolly Hospital, 23, and Waterford University Hospital, 38, had the lowest trolley numbers for this month.
However a number of hospitals which do not have an emergency department and could be expected to avoid sudden overcrowding also saw patients on trolleys this month.
These included Nenagh hospital where 24 people waited for a bed, Ennis hospital where 18 waited and Bantry hospital where 62 people were left waiting.
In a comparison with previous years, the CUH figure for November 2023 is slightly down on 1,334 for November last year but the UHL figure is higher than last November which stood at 1,596 then.
The overall national total of 11,493 is better than last November which stood at 12,624 and was the highest November total since INMO records began in 2006.
Labour candidate for Cork City Council elections Peter Horgan said the party shares the nurses’ concerns particularly around the Cork hospitals.
“The impact on patients’ health can be devastating,” he said.
“It is an incredibly stressful working environment. Burnout rates are high and staff turnover is huge. In a modern society, public services like health care should be fully operational.”
