Cork University Hospital (CUH) and University Hospital Limerick (UHL) recorded the highest number of patients on trolleys on Monday.

Cork University Hospital (CUH) recorded 49 patients on trolleys in the emergency department (ED) on Monday.

There were a further 14 patients on trolleys on wards elsewhere in the hospital.

At UHL, there were also 49 patients on trolleys at the hospital’s ED and a further 60 patients on trolleys on wards elsewhere at the hospital.

Elsewhere in Cork, there were five patients waiting on trolleys in the ED at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) on Monday.

There were seven patients waiting on trolleys in wards at Bantry General Hospital (BGH).

It comes as the Executive Council of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) last week sanctioned a campaign of industrial action in pursuance of safe staffing following a month-long period of consultation.

INMO President Karen McGowan said that safe staffing should not be a pipe dream for nurses and that patients should be made aware of the severity of these staffing deficits.

“Hospital management in each location cannot keep trying to fill from an empty cup. 

The expectation that we can run our health service at a less-than-safe staffing capacity must be challenged.

Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 in Cork has continued to decline since January.

According to the HSE’s latest Covid-19 Daily Operations Update Acute Hospitals, there were 11 patients with Covid-19 at CUH and four patients with the virus in the ICU at the hospital on Sunday.

There were no Covid-19 patients recorded at MUH as of 8pm on Sunday, February 19.

Last week, on Sunday, February 12, there were 10 Covid-19 patients at CUH and one Covid-19 patient at MUH.

One month ago, on Sunday, January 22, there were 16 Covid-19 patients at CUH and three Covid-19 patients at MUH.

According to the latest figures which are available through the Covid-19 GeoHub, there were 150 confirmed cases of Covid-19 by PCR tests in the 14 days up to February 14.

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population in Cork over the same period was 27.6.

In total, there have been 173,878 confirmed Covid-19 cases by PCR test in Cork to date.