Cork hospital implemented full-capacity protocols 58% of days since January 2025

Cork University Hospital (CUH) has implemented full-capacity protocol measures on 266 occasions between January 2025 and March of this year, HSE figures have shown.

Over the 454-day period, the protocols were implemented on 58% of the days. The measures were implemented 200 times last year, and 66 times so far this year.

A monthly breakdown shows that incidences were highest at the start of both years, with measures implemented 29 times in January 2025, 22 in February 2025, 24 in February 2026, and 22 in March 2026.

However, they were also implemented 20 times in both July and August 2025 — a significant jump from June 2025 which saw the lowest implementation of five days.

The figures were provided to Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, who said they were “a clear sign of a health service beyond crisis point for patients and staff.”

“The full capacity protocol is when the hospital is at maximum pressure with emergency department overcrowding,” Mr Ó Laoghaire said.

“Of course, there will be a need to use such a protocol but, in a properly functioning health service, it should be implemented only in exceptional circumstances.

“When this protocol is instigated, a lot of the hospital’s normal activity is suspended to make space for patients. People have to be moved onto wards and hallways outside the emergency unit, and that might in some circumstances mean elective surgeries being cancelled.

“The situation puts huge pressure on patients and their families, and it puts huge pressure on staff in our hospitals.”

It comes as figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation on Wednesday showed that 939 people were treated on trolleys in CUH last month, up from 907 in March 2025.

So far this year, a total of 2,881 people have been treated on trolleys in CUH. Last year’s total was 10,113.