Letterkenny Hospital had 817 patients on trolley beds in January - 2nd highest in country

The first monthly TrolleyWatch report of 2022 by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation makes poor reading for people in Donegal and Sligo with Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) ranked number two and Sligo University Hospital (SUH) ranked fifth in the number of patients who were on trolleys waiting on beds during January.

The INMO has said that chronic overcrowding can't become the norm once again in hospitals.

This comes as 8,636 patients were on trolleys in the month of January, 132% higher than January 2021 (3,715). 

The hospitals with the highest level of overcrowding include:

1.         University Hospital Limerick (1,300)

2.         Letterkenny University Hospital (817)

3.         Cork University Hospital (750)

4.         University Hospital Galway (738)

5.         Sligo University Hospital (526)

Sligo University Hospital

Commenting on the January TrolleyWatch figures, INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:

“We cannot allow a return to pre-2020 business as usual in our hospitals where chronic overcrowding is allowed to continue. 

“It is only the first month of the year and we had overcrowding records broken in our hospitals, with University Hospital Limerick logging record overcrowding two days in a row last week.

We have seen the highest levels of January overcrowding since the INMO began Trolleywatch in 2006 in University Hospital Limerick, Letterkenny University Hospital, Mercy University Hospital, Portunicula Hospital, Sligo University Hospital, University Hospital Galway.”

“It is not acceptable to us that chronic overcrowding is allowed to continue while COVID is still rampant in many of our hospitals. 

“Our members are frankly embarrassed and tired of apologising to patients for the poor standard of care environments. 

“The HSE must take steps to ensure that this chronic overcrowding isn’t allowed to continue into February, March and beyond. The HSE should once again issue guidance to all hospitals on curtailing non urgent elective procedures until the end of February. 

“Bespoke plans should be produced for hospitals where chronic overcrowding is a persistent feature of the hospital environment.”