The number of patients on trolleys in Irish hospitals this morning has equalled the all-time record, as the health service suffers a pre-Christmas onslaught from winter respiratory viruses.
There were 760 admitted patients waiting for a bed on Monday, according to the daily TrolleyWatch count by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
This equals the 760 trolley figure recorded on January 6th, 2020, shortly before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Overcrowding in both adult and children hospitals is being driven by high levels of respiratory viruses, with flu and Covid in resurgence and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) remaining at near record levels. All the signs point to the health service coming under extreme pressure in the post-Christmas period.
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“Today’s trolley figures are unacceptably high,” said INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha. “This level of overcrowding is a danger to patients and staff, alike. The HSE, Government and each individual hospital group must take urgent action today and pull every lever available to them to ease the pressure in our hospitals.”
The INMO has urged the worst-impacted hospitals to implement their emergency protocols.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha said it was “not too late to bring private hospitals on the pitch” and she also urged the curtailment of non-urgent elective care.
“Today’s record overcrowding was entirely predictable, the INMO has been warning this was going to happen, medics have been doing the same. Warnings from those who are working on the frontline should not fall on deaf ears.”
“Behind these figures are patients who are being stripped of their dignity and privacy while being deemed sick enough to be admitted to hospital. We know that more often than not our members are working in conditions that are unsafely staffed, meaning that providing safe care in an overcrowded environment is impossible.”
University Hospital Limerick, traditionally the hospital worst affected by overcrowding, once again has the highest number of patients on trolleys today. The 92 patients who are waiting for admission include 47 in its emergency department and 45 elsewhere in the hospital on wards.
UHL said it experienced record attendances at its ED over the weekend, with 251 patients on Saturday and 221 on Sunday, leading management to cancel “all but the most urgent elective surgery and outpatient diagnostics”.
As well as respiratory viruses, the surge was driven by large numbers of people attending with trauma injuries from slips and trips on ice over recent days. The hospital has apologised for the inconvenience caused to patients.
Cork University Hospital has 76 patients waiting for admission, all in its ED.
The Mater Hospital has appealed to the public to avoid its emergency department (ED) where possible as hospital services are “under extreme pressure”. A temporary restriction of visiting is being introduced to avoid unnecessary exposures to patients, staff and members of the public.
Meanwhile, the number of patients with Covid in hospital continues to rise sharply, up to 614 on Monday from 557 the day before. The number of patients with Covid in ICU remained stable, at 12.
On Saturday, there were just 124 free general beds in hospitals, with six hospitals - Mercy in Cork, Mullingar, Navan, Clonmel, Wexford, and St Vincent’s and Tallaght children’s unit recording no free beds. Of 280 ICU beds that are staffed and open, 277 were occupied; 27 out of 28 paediatric ICU beds were occupied.
