700% rise in number of children on trolleys

The number of sick children being treated on trolleys is “at historically high and dangerous levels”, according to the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine.

Research at Crumlin has shown a 700% increase in the number of children without a bed.

Large numbers of children are spending their entire hospital stay on trolleys as they cannot get a bed, while the rate of children leaving emergency departments without being seen is also increasing — a criteria often used as an indicator of parental dissatisfaction with overcrowding.