University Hospital Galway had the third most overcrowded emergency department in Ireland in July with over 700 patients on trolleys.
This is a dramatic increase on the figures for June when there were 546 patients on trolleys in University Hospital Galway.
In total 9,439 patients were forced to wait on trolleys in Irish hospitals this month, up by a third on July 2018, and nearly three times higher than when records began in 2006.
According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, these are the worst ever figures recorded for the month of July.
By far the most overcrowded hospitals in July were University Hospital Limerick (1,293) and Cork University Hospital (1,079), with UHG in third place with 707 people on trolleys.
Also in Galway there were a further 41 patients on trolleys in Portiuncula University Hospital, and improvement on 80 in the same month last year.
INMO Director of Industrial Relations, Tony Fitzpatrick said “Each day there are hundreds of patients languishing in corridors, waiting for a hospital bed. Currently over 700 patients cannot be discharged from hospital.”
“In the meantime, hundreds of frontline nursing and midwifery posts are currently vacant due to the HSE’s dysfunctional and bureaucratic employment control processes.”
“Vital roles across all services, at all grades, in all hospitals are left unfilled. This has direct negative consequences for patients,” he added.
“We expect increased demands on the health service in winter, but now even summer sees patients crammed into corridors on trolleys. It is creating unacceptable risks for patients and health workers alike.”
