Patients wait on trolleys as 10-bed unit lies empty

PATIENTS have been forced to wait for treatment on trolleys in a busy general hospital while its recently built geriatric unit lies idle due to staff shortages.

As many as 25 patients were consigned to trolleys at Wexford General Hospital last week as it emerged that its year-old wing for elderly patients, capable of accommodating up to 10 people, cannot be opened because no extra staff was sanctioned for the service.

For the past four months the hospital has had to deal with overcrowding due in part to a bout of pneumonia and respiratory problems associated with the weather.