59 patients on trolleys at Cork hospital

ONE of the country’s largest hospitals is facing a fresh emergency department crisis after a shocking 59 people were left waiting on trolleys yesterday — some of whom had been there since Thursday.

Just a week after the facility’s new multi-million euro acute medical unit (AMU) was finally opened, Cork University Hospital (CUH) is facing trolley-count numbers in excess of the winter crisis.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said 59 patients were waiting on trolleys in the hospital’s overcrowded emergency department.