There were 669 trolley patients waiting for admission to hospital on Tuesday, the highest level so far this year, according to the daily count by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The union called for the cancellation of non-emergency care in hospitals along with other measures to the deal with the overcrowding.
The hospitals with the highest numbers of trolleys were University Hospital Limerick (80 patients waiting for admission), Cork University Hospital (72), Letterkenny University Hospital and St James Hospital (both 51), University Hospital Galway (45) and Sligo University Hospital (35).
“It is extremely concerning but not surprising that we have 669 patients on trolleys today. We have seen a 27 per cent increase of patients on trolleys in the last week,” said INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha.
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“A range of measures must be taken now in the short to medium term, including the curtailment of all non-emergency, elective care. Capacity from the private sector must be provided immediately. There needs to be a laser focus on the recruitment and retention of nurses and midwives.”
The high trolley numbers are likely to be driven by rising numbers of patients with respiratory problems. The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital is stable, though at a high level. There were 446 patients with the virus in hospital on Tuesday, including 19 in ICU.
Flu levels are generally stable and low, while levels of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), which mostly affects children, are raised but stable.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha also called on hospitals to issue public statements encouraging people to consider alternative care pathways in the community and to outline clearly what the real time waits are for admission to hospital.
“We are now calling on the Health Service Executive, Minister for Health and the Health and Safety Authority to take immediate action in the worst hit spots. The specialist teams for Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Galway must be deployed today.
“The health and safety of our members and the patients they are trying their best to care for must take priority. We know that they are currently operating in truly unsafe care environments.
“The fact of the matter is the HSE and Department of Health must do everything in their power to ensure that our hospitals are adequately staffed and that each hospital has the ability to retain staff who are currently overwhelmed by their workload. We cannot afford to have unacceptably high nursing staffing vacancies coupled with an overcrowding crisis.
“If Government and HSE are serious about keeping Irish nurses in Irish hospitals then they must take immediate action on safe staffing, fast tracking recruitment and getting private hospitals on the pitch now.”
