Hospital overcrowding: More than 450 patients waiting for a bed

Some 454 patients are waiting for beds in Irish hospitals, figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) show.

The hospital with the highest number of patients on trolleys is University Hospital Limerick, with 82 patients. Some 27 of those patients are waiting in the emergency department.

Cork University Hospital has 60 patients waiting for beds, including 44 in the emergency department, while there are 37 patients on trolleys at University Hospital Galway, according to the INMO.

In comparison, daily figures from the HSE show that 351 patients are waiting for beds across Irish hospitals.

University Hospital Limerick is also the location with the most overcrowding, but the HSE says only 48 patients are waiting on trolleys there.

The HSE says its figures include patients who are on a hospital trolley or extra bed placed in an inappropriate space in a hospital ward.

In addition to those in emergency departments, the INMO also counts patients placed on wards, or on corridors or chairs, elsewhere in hospitals, waiting for admission to a bed.