Cork University Hospital overcrowding numbers during May ‘unacceptable’

Cork University Hospital (CUH) has been recorded as being the second most overcrowded hospital in the country across May, with 1,105 patients on trolleys in the hospital.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), last month was the second-most overcrowded month of May at the hospital in almost two decades.

Additionally, the most overcrowded figure for May experienced by the hospital was in 2023, when 1,310 patients were without a bed. This was the first time since 2006 that the number exceeded 1,000.

Nationally, there were more than 10,577 patients, including 195 children, without a bed during May, according to the INMO’s monthly trolley watch figures.

University Hospital Limerick was the most overcrowded hospital in the country, with 2,285 patients without a bed during the month.

Meanwhile, there were 61 patients on trolleys in Cork yesterday, the last day of May, 55 of these at CUH and six at Mercy University Hospital.

Concern

INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha described the number of people being treated on trolleys as “unacceptable”.

“Despite winter being well and truly over, we are continuing to see an unacceptable number of people being treated on trolleys, chairs, or in other inappropriate bed spaces in Irish hospitals this month,” said Ms Ní Sheaghdha.

“The fact that we have seen over 1,310 children on trolleys so far this year is a huge cause of concern

“The HSE have now allowed us to get in a situation where over 500 people a day on trolleys in May has been completely normalised and does not seem to warrant an emergency response.

“It’s time now for the HSE and Department of Health to bring all stakeholders together, whether that be through the Emergency Department Taskforce or another forum, to discuss the clinical implications the recruitment moratorium is having on the ability to provide safe and timely care.”

Ms Ní Sheaghdha described the levels of overcrowding in Cork as “dangerous” and said the HSE must not let this problem continue to grow over the summer months: “They must take action now and immediately end their recruitment embargo on nursing and midwifery grades.”