A&E trolley crisis hit five-year high, finds report

THE number of patients on trolleys in the country’s emergency departments (EDs) hit a five-year high last year in a damning indictment of expensive government and Health Service Executive attempts to solve the ED crisis.

Figures released yesterday by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) show the number of patients who spent time on trolleys last year while awaiting an inpatient bed reached over 75,000, up from 55,720 in 2006 when then Health Minister Mary Harney declared the crisis “a national emergency”.

The figures highlight the failure of the Government’s €70 million 10-point plan, launched in 2004 to solve the nation’s ED problems.