Overcrowding at Limerick hospital slammed as ‘utterly unacceptable’

Some 81 patients are on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick. Picture: Dan Linehan

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has hit out at overcrowding at a Limerick hospital saying that it is “utterly unacceptable” with the pandemic still going on.

The daily trolley watch figures from the union found that University Hospital Limerick has 81 patients waiting on trolleys.

In total, 234 patients were waiting for beds with Cork University Hospital behind Limerick with 28 patients on trolleys.

Of the 81 on trolleys in Limerick, 57 patients are in the emergency department while 24 are in wards elsewhere.

The INMO has called on the Government to intervene in the situation.

"81 patients on trolleys in a highly infectious pandemic is utterly unacceptable,” said INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations, Mary Fogarty.

“This level of overcrowding will almost certainly spread the virus and put staff and patients in danger.

"National government need to urgently intervene in UHL.

“The hospital has a hundred extra beds more than last year, but it still has the highest numbers of patients without beds in the country.

Clearly something is going wrong."

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed Covid-19 patients in hospital has risen for the second day in a row.

Some 331 patients with the virus are in hospitals across the country, up on yesterday’s figure of 322.

Saturday saw the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals fall to 304, the lowest they have been since December 26, 2020.

The latest figures from the Covid-19 Data Hub show that there are 68 patients with the virus in ICUs.

Elsewhere, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has been meeting to discuss the potential easing of some Covid-19 restrictions.

The 5km limit, small outdoor gatherings, outdoor sport and construction are being looked at.

Npeht will later advise the Government who will make the final call tomorrow.

On Sunday, a further 604 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed by Nphet, along with 13 additional deaths.