Shauna Bowers: Why can't hospital overcrowding be cured?

The winter of 2019 was seen as a “crisis point” for overcrowding by many within the health service

Figures from the HSE show there were 23,792 ED attendances for the week ending July 25, up 20% on the same period last year, and up 11% when compared to the same period in 2019. Photo: Dan Linehan

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was another crisis that caused havoc on our health system: emergency department (ED) overcrowding.

Attention was diverted away from the problem over the past 18 months, but now that we are beginning to exit the emergency, trolley numbers are rising once again, illustrating that the issue was merely overshadowed - not resolved.