747 patients on trolleys - extraordinary action required

747 patients, including 32 children, have been admitted to hospital without a bed today according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. 
 
Commenting on today’s trolleys numbers, INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:

Today’s trolley figures are truly shocking and should be a wake up call to the Health Service Executive, the Government and individual hospital groups that extraordinary steps must be taken to ensure that we are not replicating the same record breaking trolley numbers we saw at the beginning of this year. 
 
The HSE must take action in the form of accelerating the use of private hospital beds, the immediate cancellation of all non-urgent elective activity and the introduction of heightened infection control measures in all hospitals. 
 
We are today seeking urgent engagement with the CEO of the HSE and the Minister for Health to discuss what measures can be taken this week to protect the dignity of sick patients and the safety nurses who are trying to provide care in suboptimal conditions.
 
The INMO has been warning that dangerous levels of overcrowding were imminent. There is still time to avoid intolerable levels of overcrowding ahead of Christmas and the New Year if action is taken now.