Extraordinary action needed to avoid repeat of record breaking trolley numbers

Extraordinary levels of hospital overcrowding today should be a “wake up call” for all parties about what needs to be done the INMO has said.

There were a total of 747 patients on trolleys in Irish hospitals today, including 32 children admitted to hospital without a bed.

In Galway, there were 53 patients on trolleys at UHG this morning, 45 of them in the emergency department and another 8 in the wards.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that today’s figures are “truly shocking” and must be a wake up call for the HSE, government, and hospital groups.

Extraordinary steps must be taken to avoid a repeat this winter of the “record-breaking trolley numbers” seen at the start of the year.

“The HSE must take action in the form of accelerating the use of private hospital beds, the immediate cancellation of all non-urgent elective activity and the introduction of heightened infection control measures in all hospitals.

“We are today seeking urgent engagement with the CEO of the HSE and the Minister for Health to discuss what measures can be taken this week to protect the dignity of sick patients and the safety nurses who are trying to provide care in suboptimal conditions.”

“The INMO has been warning that dangerous levels of overcrowding were imminent,” Phil Ní Sheaghdha said.

“There is still time to avoid intolerable levels of overcrowding ahead of Christmas and the New Year if action is taken now.”