381 admitted patients were without beds this morning in Ireland’s hospitals – the highest figure since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
The worst-hit hospitals included:
- Cork University Hospital: 47
- University Hospital Limerick: 41
- University Hospital Galway: 39
- Sligo University Hospital: 26
- Mayo University Hospital: 26
The INMO pointed to the temporary closure of Bantry General Hospital as a likely contributor to overcrowding in Cork.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
Our health service is rapidly swinging from a COVID crisis back into an overcrowding crisis. The HSE said at the start of the pandemic that overcrowding would not be tolerated, but it has been on the rise consistently in recent months.
Our members cannot withstand the pressures of overcrowding twinned with the pressure of another wave of COVID.
If we continue along the current trajectory, patients and staff will find themselves in a dire situation.
The HSE needs a laser-like focus on hospitals to get overcrowding figures down. That means scaling back services in badly hit hospitals, taking on extra capacity from private hospitals, and supporting GPs to return to their normal clinical work.
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A breakdown of numbers of patients on trolleys in each hospital is here.
The second highest figure recorded in the pandemic was 376 on 11 May 2021.