Nurses criticise Galway hospital protocol

A 78-YEAR-OLD patient has been forced to spend the last four nights on a trolley in University Hospital Galway (UHG) due to overcrowding.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO), there were 38 patients on trolleys in the emergency department awaiting admission yesterday morning. Eight of these have been waiting for three days.

INMO hit out at the conditions and said the hospital has now moved to full capacity protocol, which means the placing of extra patients on already full wards throughout the hospital.