INMO Calling For Year-Round Plan To Tackle Overcrowding Crisis

Stock Image

704 patients are on trolleys today.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is calling for a year-round plan to tackle the overcrowding crisis.

It wants the Government and HSE to act as 704 patients wait for a bed in hospitals nationwide today.

12 of those patients are in the midlands - seven of which are in Mullingar Regional Hospital, with the remaining five in Portlaoise.

University Hospital Limerick is the worst affected facility today with 105 people on trolleys.

The INMO wants the Government and the HSE to develop a plan to tackle the overcrowding crisis as numbers rise on again.

Over 10-thousand 100 patients, including 297 children, were admitted to hospital without a bed last month.

And the INMO said yesterday that this winter "is going to be very bad" for hospitals.

Its General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha , says the high numbers today are predictable post Bank Holiday.

But adds that "this level of overcrowding must not be allowed to continue further into the year."

She says "of the five bank holidays we have had so far this year, we have seen out of control numbers of patients on trolleys in the days following."

Sinn Fein's Health Spokesperson David Cullinane says almost every day there are unacceptably high numbers waiting on trolleys:

More from Midlands News

Download Our App