THE IRISH NURSES and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called for an emergency national plan to deal with overcrowding in hospitals, after 761 patients were counted on trolleys awaiting hospital beds this morning.

Of the 761 patients, 528 people were in emergency departments.

University Hospital Limerick reported the highest number of patients on trolleys, with 122 people awaiting hospital beds there.

Sligo University Hospital and Cork University Hospital both also recorded high numbers awaiting hospital beds, with 55 and 53 patients respectively.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals are now “working in unenviable circumstances in hospitals and community settings”, as they deal with chronic overcrowding in the middle of a widespread respiratory illness outbreak, while national weather warnings are in place.

There were 1,017 people in hospital with the flu as of 31 December according to the HSE, with GP out-of-hours services, GP surgeries, ambulance services, hospital emergency departments and inpatient services “all feeling the effects of respiratory illnesses, primarily influenza”. 

The INMO’s Ní Sheaghdha said: “It is inconceivable that we are once again talking about how high trolley figures are on the first Monday in January”.

“This level of overcrowding when dealing with the level of flu and RSV that we have seen over the festive season was entirely predictable but there has been no plan in place by the HSE and individual health regions to stem the worst of it,” she said.

“Our members want to be able to provide safe care to patients but also be assured that their own health and wellbeing is being protected – neither are guaranteed when they are working in overcrowded conditions where respiratory infections are rife.”

The INMO called for an emergency national plan to tackle what it described as the “escalating overcrowding problem in part of the country”, adding that healthcare staff were being left to deal with “entirely predictable annual problems with no new solutions from their employer yet again”.

“The number of patients on trolleys today exceed the inpatient capacity of each large hospital across the country. For example, the number of patients on trolleys exceed the number of inpatient beds in University Hospital Waterford and Letterkenny University Hospital combined,” Ní Sheaghdha said.

She added that the continued delay in developing three elective-only hospitals, as per the HSE and Department of Health’s Sláintecare plan, is adding to the problem.

“The HSE and other public sector healthcare employers must reassure nurses, midwives, healthcare workers, and the wider public that extraordinary measures are being taken to address and remove all barriers to delivering safe care during this critical time,” Ní Sheaghdha said.