New overcrowding record for UHL with 130 on trolleys at under-siege hospital 

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

New figures for hospital overcrowding show 130 patients without a bed in University Hospital Limerick — a record figure for the under-siege hospital.

Overall, 563 patients around the country were waiting for a bed on Monday morning, meaning 23% of those waiting are in Limerick, data from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) trolley count shows.

INMO assistant director for industrial relations for the midwest Mary Fogarty said: “Today’s record-breaking trolley figures in University Hospital Limerick comes as no surprise to our members who have been working in overcrowded and understaffed wards with no reprieve for years on end.” 

The UHL figures show 62 patients waiting on trolleys in the emergency department and 68 patients waiting on trolleys placed in wards — in all cases these are patients sick enough to need admission but a bed is not free.

Escalation policies, implemented in all hospitals when an ED becomes severely overcrowded, mean patients on trolleys are moved into other areas of the hospital to reduce risk.

Mary Fogarty: Nurses are 'burnt out and demoralised'. Picture: Don Moloney/Press 22

However, while this reduces risk in the ED, nurses warn it creates pressures elsewhere also.

“The fact that there are more patients on trolleys across the hospital itself than in the emergency department itself is making the provision of safe and timely care impossible,” Ms Fogarty warned.

“Patient flow out of the emergency department is proving difficult because of the sheer volume of trolleys across the hospital.” 

Nurses are “burnt out and demoralised” she said linked to these daily working conditions.

“It is impossible for them to provide safe care in a working environment that is persistently dangerous,” she said.

“INMO members in the hospital met last week to discuss their grave concerns about their safety and that of their patients. INMO members feel that none of the interventions directed by hospital management have had any positive impact to date.” She called on hospital management and the HSE to outline what additional interventions they can undertake.

Other Munster hospitals are also facing serious strains as the winter season kicks in. Some 48 patients were waiting for a bed in Cork University Hospital and 12 in the Mercy University Hospital.

At University Hospital Kerry some 22 patients were waiting, and even in Ennis Hospital which does not have an ED there were two patients on trolleys due to overcrowding.

However, in University Hospital Waterford (UHW) and Nenagh Hospital there were no patients without a bed.

UHW has been highlighted as a site where overcrowding issues have been turned around, despite facing extra pressures earlier this year in taking over-flow patients from the fire-damaged Wexford General Hospital.

In other parts of the country, Sligo University Hospital was very busy with 40 patients on trolleys, at Tallaght University Hospital some 44 were waiting and in Galway University Hospital 34 patients were without a bed.