Limerick hospital overcrowding crisis deepens at UHL with near record patients on trolleys

THE number of patients on trolleys in UHL is nearing the highest-ever record as 147 patients were waiting for beds there this morning.

The highest number of patients on trolleys ever recorded at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) was 150 on February 7, 2024.

Over 8,055 patients went without a bed in Irish hospitals this August according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:

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 “The number of patients cared for on trolleys and the length of time spent on trolleys, particularly older people, has been a cause of concern this summer. Our members have raised this issue as a serious breach of human dignity which impacts on the potential recovery and indeed the treatment of the issues causing people to attend emergency departments in the first place."

The INMO General Secretary continued: “We must heed the warnings of our Australian colleagues who witnessed a record-breaking flu season this year. Our public health system cannot cope with a deluge of respiratory illnesses over the coming months."

“Each HSE regional health authority must outline in detail what it plans to do to radically reduce not just the number of patients being treated in inappropriate spaces but the amount of time a patient is spending on a trolley. Those who depend on our health services to function deserve to know that the HSE will have in place to ensure that care can be provided safely in the community over this traditionally busy time. Unless we see a hospital-by-hospital plan to tackle overcrowding, we are in for a very bleak winter in Irish hospitals which will see nurses and patients in extremely unsafe circumstances."