Cork and Limerick among worst hit as hospital overcrowding varies widely across Munster

New INMO data highlights major disparities between Munster hospitals, with overcrowding levels varying dramatically from site to site

At University Hospital Limerick, 22,473 patients went without a bed, the highest recorded figure at any hospital in the country. Picture: Dan Linehan

Patients across Munster had very different experiences last year depending on the hospital they attended, with new figures showing widely contrasting levels of overcrowding. 

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has published its end-of-year data on overcrowding in hospitals across the country, which found an “unacceptably high number of patients” had to wait on trolleys in corridors in 2025.