A&E departments suffering crisis, warns nursing union

SOME of the country’s largest hospitals are in the throes of an A&E crisis, according to the country’s largest nursing union.

A comparison between the number of patients on trolleys in December 2005, 2006 and 2007, shows while figures dipped last year from 2293 to 983, they shot up again in 2007 to 1855.

The figures, compiled by the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO), show an 89% increase in the number of people on trolleys in the 14 working days from December 1-20 compared to 2006.