602 patients on trolleys waiting for hospital bed, says INMO

Patients on trolleys in the corridor of the emergency department at Mayo University Hospital on Monday. Picture: Darragh Mc Donagh

There were 602 patients on trolleys waiting for a hospital bed to become available on Tuesday, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) found. 

This number remains high even though flu numbers are low for this time of year according to separate data. 

The trolley number included 27 children in the three children’s sites in Dublin and one child aged under 16 without a bed in Cork University Hospital.

Patients at University Hospital Limerick were the most likely to face delays with 83 patients counted without a bed. 

This was followed by CUH with 59 waiting and Galway University Hospital where 52 waited.

As the pressures increase nationally linked partially to high numbers attending emergency departments in need of help, patients in other smaller Munster hospitals are now also at risk of delays.

There were 17 patients without a bed in Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel and 11 in University Hospital Kerry.

In West Cork, there were also nine patients waiting for a bed at Bantry Hospital, which does not have an emergency department.

However, Waterford University Hospital continued to have no patients waiting in the ED for a hospital bed. 

This was also the case in Tullamore Hospital and Beaumont Hospital, the only sites with an ED in this fortunate situation.

Trolley Watch figures paint a grim picture of the overcrowding situation in our hospitals.

The latest covid-19 data shows 16 people admitted to intensive care units and 256 people in hospitals with the virus, with cases increasing slowly following a fall during October.

Numbers of patients admitted to hospital with RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) also continue to increase. 

The highest rates were recorded among children aged less than one-year-old, followed by children in the one to four age group.

Some 198 cases were notified during the last week of October, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. 

Among them, 98 people were hospitalised, and 88% of these hospital patients were aged less than four years old.

However while flu levels increased slightly last week, the number of cases remains low for this time of year, they said.

GPs also reported low levels of flu-like illness, the HPSC said.

Some 20 people were in hospitals with the flu up to October 28, the data shows. No one has needed ICU care for the flu so far this season.

The Irish situation reflects what is happening across Europe, the HPSC said, where RSV cases continue to increase, covid-19 levels remain high but flu numbers are low.