Overcrowding crisis: A hospital service that’s off its trolley

DESPITE promises by the Government, Health Minister Leo Varadkar, and HSE management, the issue of overcrowding in the nation’s hospitals continues to worsen.

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda is a case in point. It has been experiencing some of the worst overcrowding in the country over the past few days, with more than 40 patients left regularly on trolleys in its emergency department, awaiting a bed.

Patients, many of them elderly, have spent up to five days on trolleys, in intolerable conditions.