Letterkenny Hospital under 'significant pressure' - INMO say 64 patients waiting for beds

Over 100 patients were waiting on trolley beds in Letterkenny (LUH) and Sligo University Hospitals (SUH) this morning - 64 of them at LUH alone.

It has also been reported that 13 patients are being treated for Covid-19 with outbreaks reported in four separate wards at LUH. 

The figures come from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), whose daily trolley watch figures indicate that Letterkenny that trolley bed patients was just one less than at Cork University Hospital which registered the highest figures in the country.

Thirty patients are waiting in the emergency department of LUH, while 34 are in wards elsewhere in the hospital.

The Emergency Department at Letterkenny University Hospital is also under significant pressure today with high attendances and long waiting times, the Saolta University Health Care Group, which operates hospitals along the western seaboard further  confirmed. 

In a statement Saolta said:  

The high number of people attending who need to be admitted for ongoing treatment means that there is pressure on bed availability. This is resulting in significant delays being experienced by patients in the Emergency Department who are waiting for a bed to become available on a ward. There are currently a very high number of patients on trolleys in ED awaiting admission to in-patient beds.

 "The hospital is also dealing with a significant increase in Covid-19 presentations and admissions. There are currently 13 Covid positive patients being treated at LUH with four wards in outbreak. Visiting to the outbreak wards is restricted to compassionate grounds, on an exceptional basis only.

"The hospital is postponing elective procedures given the pressure on the site and patients have been contacted directly.

"All available beds are in use. Every effort is being made to discharge patients who are ready to go home so that beds will become available for patients who need to be admitted, at the earliest opportunity.

"The hospital acknowledges that these delays and postponements are very difficult for patients and their families and apologises for the inconvenience and distress these delays cause.

"The hospital is committed to treating everyone who presents at the Emergency Department; people who are seriously injured or ill are assessed and treated as a priority and those who do not require urgent care may be waiting longer.

 "We continue to request that people only attend the Emergency Department at the hospital if it is an emergency situation. We ask that people attend their GP or out of hours service in the first instance if at all possible."

Meanwhile the INMO say that 44 patients were waiting on trolley beds this morning at SUH.