Health service moving from Covid crisis to overcrowding crisis

Cork University Hospital had 47 patients on trolleys on Monday. File picture: Larry Cummins

The Irish health service is swinging straight from a Covid crisis into an overcrowding crisis, with the number of people left waiting on trolleys now at its highest level since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has issued a strong warning that services could become overwhelmed if overcrowding continues to worsen and is coupled with increasing Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations.