Trolley watch figures rise in hospitals

THE number of patients currently waiting on trolleys in hospitals around the country has risen again.

According to figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation today (Tuesday), there are 530 patients on trolleys in emergency departments and elsewhere in hospitals. As of last Wednesday, there was 518 patients on trolleys around the country, said figures released last week by the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation. That figure presented a 40 per cent increase for the same date in January, when 259 people were on trolleys around the country.

In Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, there are five people on trolleys, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation figures. There are a further 18 on trolleys in the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, and nine in the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

The worst affected hospital, according to the figures, is Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda with 50 patients waiting, while there are 45 patients waiting at Beaumont Hospital and 37 at University Hospital Limerick.