IF YOU’VE BEEN in a hospital emergency department lately, you’ll probably have spent some time on a trolley.
According to the INMO, there was an increase of 34% on trolley figures in October this year compared to 2013.
“Crisis”
It says that the figures show that the overcrowding crisis is “deepening”, with almost 7,000 patients who were admitted to hospital finding themselves on trolleys.
It also indicated that a deeper analysis of the figures points to “very worrying trends” with regard to the situation in a number of hospitals across the country.
The figures show that these are the hospitals with the greatest increase in the number of people on trolleys last month.
The greatest number of admitted patients on trolleys in individual hospitals were:
INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said that the 34% increase in October must be compared to 32% in September, 19% in August and 8% in July 2014 as compared to the same months in 2013.
He said that the situation arises as a direct result of the health service budget.
The INMO is now calling upon the government, and the HSE, to immediately bring forward the €25 million allocated to address delayed discharges in the 2015 budget. It wants this to be made available immediately to provide additional beds, home care packages and frontline staff.
Doran added that hospitals won’t be able to cope with the “inevitable increase in demand” over winter time if unacceptable overcrowding continues.
Nurses from Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda confirmed this morning that they are to begin industrial action on Wednesday 19 November due to severe overcrowding.
The HSE has been contacted for comment.
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