IRISH HOSPITALS RECORDED their worst-ever August for overcrowding last month with close to 10,000 patients on trolleys.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reported that over 9,945 patients were admitted without beds throughout the month. 

University Hospital Limerick (UHL) was by far the hospital with the worst overcrowding last month – a total of 1,784 patients were on trolleys. 

It was followed by Cork University Hospital, which had 830 patients on trolleys; Letterkenny University Hospital with 730 patients; St Vincent’s University Hospital with 728 patients; and Sligo University Hospital with 710 patients.

The union’s general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said with this overcrowding, patients’ dignity is being compromised.

Ní Sheaghdha, who is also president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said the trolley figures are the “direct result” of government decisions to cap and restrict recruitment.

“We are at the point where senior leaders and clinicians in the HSE are refusing to stand behind the current state of the health service,” she said. 

An “alarmingly high” assault rate against hospital staff, increasing staff shortages, and a decline in conditions for patients can only be addressed by a reversal in staffing and recruitment policies and the full implementation of the safe staffing framework, she continued.

The organisation’s head said members are worried about the winter ahead, as other jurisdictions report record levels of flu hospitalisations and flu presentations. 

“We will not be equipped or staffed to deal with this scenario here in Ireland,” Ní Sheaghdha said, adding that it is imperative those on the frontline are listened to.

The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.