'It’s time for direct, high-level HSE intervention' - Limerick trolley figures at record-high levels

There are record levels of overcrowding at the University Hospital Limerick this morning with 81 patients on trolleys.

This is tied for the most ever waiting for a bed at the hospital in what has already been the worst September on record for the mid-west hospital as there has been over 1,000 patients on trolleys there in the last 23 days.

UHL was also the most overcrowded hospital in 2018, with 10,000 waiting without beds.

According to the INMO, there are over 100 nursing vacancies in the hospital that are not being filled due to a current recruitment ban.

Around Ireland this morning, there are 534 patients waiting for beds.

The worst-affected hospitals today are:

• University Hospital Limerick - 81
• Cork University Hospital – 62
• University Hospital Waterford - 36
• South Tipperary General Hospital - 32

“This is a matter of public safety," said INMO Industrial Relations Officer for Limerick, Mary Fogarty. "Eighty-one patients on trolleys is what you’d expect after a natural disaster, not on an ordinary Monday.

It’s time for direct, high-level HSE intervention. Services should be curtailed immediately to clear this overcrowding.

“At the root of this is understaffing," Ms Fogarty insisted. "There are 100 unfilled nursing posts at the hospital, and the HSE are not allowing management to recruit graduating nurses and midwives. The recruitment ban has got to go."