Trolley crisis prompts call for overhaul

CALLS for a radical overhaul of the health system have been prompted by news that a record 569 patients were languishing on hospital trolleys yesterday.

Responding to the crisis, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said urgent action was needed from Government amid fears over patient safety, the onset of sub-zero temperatures from tonight onwards and the possibility of a fresh spike in swine flu cases.

The HSE admitted some planned surgical operations have had to be deferred so resources can be diverted to overcrowded emergency & departments (EDs), while a spokesman for the Department of Health could not confirm whether Health Minister Mary Harney was even working as the crisis hit virtually every hospital up and down the country.