HSE and INMO at odds over trolley numbers

Cork University Hospital is one of the worst hospitals for overcrowding, with 12,487 patients going without a bed at some stage during the year. Picture: Andy Gibson.

This year has been the worst ever for hospital overcrowding in Ireland, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has claimed.

More than 121,500 patients have gone without a bed in hospitals across the country this year, the worst on record, the union said in a statement on Tuesday.

However, the HSE hit back at these claims and defended its record in 2023.

The HSE said it had seen some improvement compared to last year, with trolley numbers down despite a steep increases in attendances.

"The trolley numbers have been far too high, though suggestions that this year has seen the highest number on record are not correct," it said.

The worst hospitals for overcrowding were University Hospital Limerick and Cork University Hospital, with 21,141 patients and 12,487 patients respectively going without a bed at some stage during the year.

Rounding out the top five most overcrowded hospitals were University Hospital Galway, Sligo University Hospital, and St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin.

On Tuesday, a further 517 patients were on trolleys across the country.

“With six days to Christmas, there has been no let-up in pressure for our nurses and midwives, who are working in overcrowded and understaffed hospitals,” INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said.

“For the second year in a row we have broken overcrowding records. The year is not even over and 121,526 patients have been admitted to hospital without a bed.

Over 3,450 children have been on trolleys so far this year, an increase of 24% on the previous year. This is not something to celebrate and was entirely predictable.” 

Earlier this month, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said it was very difficult to predict the impact of policies against hospital overcrowding and declined to say whether targets for lowering trolley numbers could be reached.

“The number of patients on trolleys today is too high, we know it is too high on an ongoing basis. There is a comprehensive plan in place,” he said. 

He added special interventions were in place at a number of the worst offenders in terms of overcrowding such as Limerick, Cork, Galway and Kerry.

The HSE also said that, from this week, it would publish daily data giving a clear understanding of the factors which make up the hospital position.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha, meanwhile, hit out at the recruitment freeze recently implemented that she said would “further demoralise a burned out, exhausted workforce”.

“We are about to walk into an unbearably busy time in our public hospital system and it is clear that lessons from the not-so-distant past have not been learned when it comes to tackling the root causes of hospital overcrowding,” she said.