New record for number of patients on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick

A RECORD-BREAKING number of patients have been reported on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick this Monday morning.

130 patients are on trolleys at UHL, according to numbers published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, breaking the previous record of 126, which was set in April 2022.

There are 62 people waiting for beds in the Emergency Department, while 68 are in wards elsewhere in the hospital. 

In a statement, INMO Assistant Director for Industrial Relations for the Midwest, Mary Fogarty said that these record-breaking trolley figures in UHL come as "no surprise to our members who have been working in overcrowded and understaffed wards with no reprieve for years on end".

"The fact that there are more patients on trolleys across the hospital itself than in the emergency department itself is making the provision of safe and timely care impossible. Patient flow out of the emergency department is proving difficult because of the sheer volume of trolleys across the hospital," Ms Fogarty continued.

"Our members are burnt out and demoralised as a direct result of their working conditions. It is impossible for them to provide safe care in a working environment that is persistently dangerous. INMO members in the hospital met last week to discuss their grave concerns about their safety and that of their patients, and members feel that none of the interventions directed by hospital management have had any positive impact to date."

UHL also saw the highest levels of overcrowding of hospitals around Ireland in September, with 2,174 patients left without a bed last month.

The second-most overcrowded hospital, Cork University Hospital, had just under half as many patients without beds, at 1,024 patients.

"Hospital management and the Health Service Executive must outline what targeted interventions they intend to carry out to take the pressure off our members for the sake of patient safety," Ms Fogarty said.