Over 1,300 treated without a bed in Cork hospitals last month

More than 1,300 people were treated despite not being assigned a bed across Cork hospitals in February, representing the most overcrowded month on record for Irish hospitals.

This is according to figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which show that 11,595 patients were treated on trolleys nationwide last month.

Across Cork, there were 848 people treated on a trolley, either in the emergency department (ED), or within a ward elsewhere at Cork University Hospital (CUH), with a further 396 treated without a bed at Mercy University Hospital, and 145 at Bantry General Hospital.

This brings the total number of patients treated without a bed across Cork hospitals in February to 1,389. CUH was among the top five most overcrowded hospitals across the country, with University Hospital Limerick and University Hospital Galway seeing the largest number of patients without a bed, at 1,978 and 1,263, respectively.

INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said members of the organisation “predicted that the recruitment embargo represented by the HSE’s ‘pay and numbers’ strategy would only worsen the situation in already disastrously overcrowded hospitals”.

“Sadly, they have been proven right, as we are seeing here the results of a failure to adequately staff services in both hospital and community services,” said Ms Ní Sheaghdha.

“This is a truly alarming situation, and one that can only be addressed with a serious commitment to safe staffing across the health service.

“There is simply no care without staffing, and any additional bed capacity in the health service needs to be matched with the staffing numbers prescribed in the safe staffing framework.”