Tuesday was the worst day yet in 2019 for patients waiting for hospitals beds across the country.
A whopping 679 patients were left without a bed on Tuesday, the highest recorded figure this year, and the second highest ever on record according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
The figures, which make for grim reading, show that University Hospital Limerick was the worst hit with 63 admitted patients without a bed.
This was closely followed by University Hospital Cork (60) and Letterkenny University Hospital (47), South Tipperary General Hospital (40), Sligo University Hospital (39), and University Hospital Waterford (39).
The INMO expressed particular concern for South Tipperary General Hospital, saying the hospital was in crisis.
Despite being one of the country’s smaller hospitals, it has more patients on trolleys than some of the largest.
INMO General Secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha, described the shocking figures as “obscene” and slammed the current healthcare staff recruitment freeze.
She said: “This is simply obscene. Winter has not even started, and Irish hospitals are overwhelmed. Our members are faced with an inhumane working environment, while patients are put at ever-increasing risk.
Figures produced by the INMO in August found over 1,300 nursing and midwifery vacancies in the public health sector as a direct result of the HSE’s recruitment freeze.
The union has pointed to a lack of capacity in hospitals and staff in the public health service as the key driver behind the figures.
Ni Sheaghdha added: “50,000 people marched to support nurses and midwives during the strike. They did so for an end to short staffing and a better health service. The government’s delay in implementing the strike settlement, along with the recruitment freeze, has driven more nurses and midwives out of the public health service.
“It’s time for extra emergency staffing, an end to the recruitment ban, and for hospitals to curtail services until safe patient and staff levels are reached.”
There were not enough beds for 11,452 patients in Irish hospitals last month making it worst-ever October for overcrowding and the second-worst month since records began.
