142% increase in patients on trolleys - INMO

Figures released last Wednesday by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reveal a dramatic 142% year on year rise in patients spending time on trolleys at Tullamore hospital last year. Figures released also show a total of 81 closed beds in the county. According to INMO figures 2011 saw a total of 1,857 patients on trolleys at the hospital, up from 766 the previous year. The current trolley figures for the hospital are a far cry from 2007 figures, when just 34 patients were recorded as spending time on trolleys. Nationwide the average year on year increase in trolley figures was 14%, with a total of 86,481 recorded as spending time on trolleys in 2011 in total. Last year's figures were the worst recorded since the INMO began maintaining records in 2004. Dramatic year on year increases alongside Tullamore Hospital were experienced in Our Lady's Hospital in Navan (224%), St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny (639%) and the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise (352%). A reduction in trolley figures was experienced in December last year, which INMO General Secretary Liam Doran puts down to the opening of closed beds, ring fenced funding for some community supports and the prioritisation of the problem by local management under the direction of the new Special Delivery Unit. In Tullamore trolley figures decreased from 136 in December 2010 to 126 in December 2011. The report also flags bed closures, with three units affected in Offaly. Ten closed beds were recorded in Birr Community Nursing Unit, 59 in Tullamore hospital and a further twelve in Ofalia House in Edenderry. At the time of going to print the HSE had not responded to a request from this newspaper for a comment.