Trolley numbers hit second highest level

University Hospital Limerick had the highest number of patients on trolleys yesterday, according to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

There were 49 patients awaiting admission to a bed in the Limerick hospital; 25 were in the emergency department and 24 were on wards.

The INMO’s trolley and ward watch shows there were 544 patients on trolleys in emergency departments or on wards yesterday, the second-highest figure this year.

St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin had 47 patients on trolleys in its emergency department, but was not in a position to provide a ward figure.

Eight hospitals across the country had 30 or more patients waiting on trolleys in the emergency department or on wards. Cork University Hospital had 30 patients on trolleys in its emergency department but none on wards.

The highest trolley figure recorded by the INMO this year was on January 5, when there were 558 patients awaiting admission. The highest ever figure, at 601, was reached on January 6, 2015.

According to the HSE’s Trolleygar, there were 446 patients on trolleys yesterday, with 207 waiting more than nine hours.

A spokeswoman for the UL Hospitals Group said there were 28 patients waiting on trolleys in the emergency department for admission to hospital bed at 8am yesterday. By lunchtime there were 15.

She said the emergency department had remained under pressure since December despite measures taken to alleviate the situation.