Worst overcrowding in UHL as more than 600 patients wait on trolleys in Ireland 

99 people are waiting for beds across UHL, with 51 patients waiting in the emergency department. Picture: Dan Linehan

University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has the most patients waiting on trolleys on Monday, according to the latest figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

In the first figures released for April, 99 people are waiting for beds across the hospital, with 51 patients waiting in the emergency department.

Cork University Hospital has the second highest overcrowding numbers nationally, with 78 patients left on trolleys or chairs, the majority of which are also in A&E.

In total, 631 patients are waiting for beds this morning in hospitals across the country. This includes 18 children from Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital and Temple Street Children’s University Hospital who are without beds.

Last month saw record levels of overcrowding in hospitals for the month of March, with 12,943 patients, including 447 children, left waiting for beds across the country. 

This was an increase from 11,001 people on trolleys in March 2022 and 4,126 in the same month in 2021.

Speaking last month, INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said, “in some hospitals the level of overcrowding we have seen has been out of control and cannot be allowed to continue into the spring and summer months.” 

Close to 70,000 patients were left without a bed from October to March, a period covering the HSE’s Winter Plan, according to analysis by the INMO.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha called on the HSE and Department of Health to devise a multi-year annual plan to tackle the overcrowding crisis, saying, “it is clear that it is no longer just a winter overcrowding crisis but a year-long one.” 

She also said the IMNO had engaged with the HSE to discuss the issue of overcrowding.