Almost 100 nursing vacancies but less than half of graduates get jobs

There are 426 patients waiting for a bed in hospitals around Ireland, with University Hospital Limerick the worst hit.

Chronic overcrowding continued across the country’s hospitals as 531 admitted patients languished on trolleys in emergency departments and wards today.

531 patients are waiting for a bed in Irish hospitals around the country, according to the latest trolley watch figures.

Staff at University Hospital Limerick fear the crisis could escalate even further this weekend after experiencing a record number of patients on trolleys for a hospital yesterday.

The director of University Hospital Limerick has denied the hospital is in the midst of a crisis despite reports of record numbers of patients lying on trolleys yesterday.

Tipperary grandmother Marie Gleeson has spoken of her 24-hour ordeal lying on a trolley overnight in a corridor in University Hospital Limerick emergency department.

The chief clinical director of University of Limerick Hospital, Professor Paul Burke is disputing the claims of the INMO about the number of patients on trolleys in the hospital today.

University Hospital Limerick has recorded the highest-ever daily figure of patients waiting on trolleys.

The most consistently overcrowded hospital in the country is to close a 17-bed ward from tomorrow.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said it is "deeply disappointed" following a meeting with University Hospital Limerick (UHL) management where it was confirmed the 17-bed-ward would close tomorrow.

There are 580 patients waiting for beds in hospitals around the country this morning, according to the INMO Trolley Watch.

As talks at the Labour Court over nurses' pay and conditions adjourned until next week the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation warns that it has only suspended its strike action, not called it off.

The HSE is opening a new €24 million emergency department (ED) at University Hospital Limerick today — but the new facility won’t do anything to reduce the numbers on trolleys at the hospital.

Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) at St Camillus Hospital in Limerick are to start a work-to-rule this morning.

Just before Health Minister Leo Varadkar announced the relocation of Limerick Maternity Hospital to Dooradoyle yesterday, nurses at the facility warned they would be protesting outside the hospital over staffing and resources.

The A&E at University Hospital Limerick has been described as a ‘cattle mart’ where elderly female patients on trolleys are being robbed of their dignity.

A 25-hour wait by a 101-year-old Co Clare grandmother on a trolley at the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has been described as "inhumane, deplorable, and disgraceful".

It was chaotic business as usual at University Hospital Limerick’s emergency department yesterday.

Members of the public are being asked to join with nurses for tomorrows lunchtime protest outside the Dáil.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation yesterday called for a major emergency plan to be put in place at University Hospital Limerick after almost 50 patients were left on trolleys in the emergency department.

Appalling conditions at the emergency department of a major hospital are threatening patient safety, increasing risk of infection and compromising cleanliness, a damning watchdog report has found.

Ambulance crews are queuing up at the emergency department of a major hospital and waiting up to two hours before they can unload patients and are released to return to duty.

A leading clinical director believes a second emergency department would be beneficial for the Mid-West region in the wake of claims that University Hospital Limerick is in “chaos”.

A Mid West nurses’ leader has slammed as “sexist and insulting” a HSE document setting out a proposed dress code for nurses and other female staff at five hospitals in the region.

A €15m extension at Ennis General Hospital lies idle today over a dispute concerning staffing levels between the HSE and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

The HSE has refused a request by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation to carry out an external review into the high absenteeism rates at Ennis General Hospital.

The HSE has given approval for a new emergency& department at one of the country’s busiest hospitals.

The HSE began conducting emergency interviews yesterday to recruit extra nurses to deal with patient overcrowding at Limerick’s main hospital.

THE absenteeism rate among nurses at Ennis General Hospital is almost four times over the HSE target level, a report shows.

ONE-in-five patients have to wait between 12 and 24 hours to be admitted through the A&E at the Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick.

NURSES from the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick took their protests against “dangerous” overcrowding in the emergency department to the Dáil.

NURSES at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick have accused management of intransigence on patient safety and warned more strike action is likely.

NURSES say their concerns have been clearly addressed in a Department of Health report on conditions in Limerick’s Mid-Western Regional Hospital.

NURSES at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick yesterday staged a third walkout over what they claimed were dangerously overcrowded conditions in the emergency department (ED) as a union leader insisted they were not for turning on the issue.

Nurses at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick will engage in a third work-stoppage at 8am this morning.

EMERGENCY department nurses at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital will today stage another walkout — the third in three weeks — to protest at what they claim are overcrowded and dangerous conditions at the unit.

NURSES in Limerick are set to take part in a third day of industrial action over concerns the facility’s emergency department is a danger to the public’s safety.

NURSES in Limerick yesterday staged a four-hour work stoppage against “unsafe” overcrowding in the &Mid-West Regional Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED).

Nurses at the Midwestern Regional Hospital in Limerick will today stage a four-hour work stoppage in protest at conditions in the hospital's emergency department.

A WAR of words has erupted between nurses and the HSE over a work stoppage set to occur in Limerick ahead of discussions by health chiefs over the latest cutback plans for the service.

Management at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick have yet to put in place a contingency plan to deal with a planned work stoppage by nurses in its emergency department tomorrow, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has claimed.