Specialist team to tackle Limerick trolley crisis as hospital 'at highest level of escalation'

Minister intervenes directly in the HSE's running of Ireland's health service for the second time in a week

Health minister Stephen Donnelly told HSE chief Paul Reid to send a "specialist team" in to University Hospital Limerick, saying he is very concerned about the waiting times at the hospital. File picture: Dan Linehan

A specialist team has been ordered into University Hospital Limerick by the Health Minister to try to tackle its record high trolley figures.

The move comes after the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) revealed there were 126 patients waiting on trolleys at the hospital last Thursday, a record number since the union began tracking the figures in 2006.