Hospital overcrowding in August hits high for that month

Hospital overcrowding last month was the worst ever recorded for August, according to an analysis by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

Almost 10,000 patients were forced to wait for admission to a hospital bed in August, 20 per cent more than in the same month in 2018.

The INMO’s daily trolley count was higher for every day last month compared to August 2018. The 9,562 patients forced to wait for admission to hospital included 48 children.

University Hospital Limerick and Cork University Hospital (CUH) experienced the worst overcrowding, each with more than 1,000 patients on trolleys during August. CUH’s figures were nearly double those recorded in the same month last year.

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In contrast, Beaumont Hospital in Dublin recorded its lowest trolley figures for August since 2006, with just 91 patients waiting for admission. St James's Hospital, the biggest hospital in the State, had just 75 patients on trolleys during the month.

INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha blamed the worsening figures on a failure to fill nursing posts in the health service.

“This is the tragic ongoing reality in Ireland’s health service. To see nearly 10,000 patients on trolleys is bad in itself, but this is a summer month. These figures signal an even more dangerous winter, when extra demands are typically placed on hospitals.