Hospital overcrowding: 24 children being treated on trolleys in Irish hospitals

Eva Osborne

Over 629 patients, including 24 children were being treated on trolleys, chairs, and in other inappropriate bed spaces in Irish hospitals on Tuesday morning.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said that resolving the ongoing hospital overcrowding crisis must be a priority in government formation talks, as a "pre-Christmas surge" gets underway.

99 admitted patients were waiting for beds at University Hospital Limerick, 77 were waiting at Cork University Hospital, and 49 were waiting at University Hospital Galway.

INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: “We are seeing yet another pre-Christmas surge in the number of people who are being admitted to hospitals without a bed.

"Dangerous levels of overcrowding are not just confined to a couple of sites, we are seeing high levels of patients on trolleys in most hospitals.

"This is an indicator of the difficult weeks that lay ahead for patients and nurses and midwives who want to provide safe care in our hospitals."

Ní Sheaghdha said the same problems are faced in Irish hospitals each year with "no long-term solutions offered to ending the ongoing, year-round overcrowding crisis in our hospitals".

"As government formation talks continue ensuring that our hospitals are safe from a staffing and capacity perspective must be a priority for all engaged in negotiations."