Big rise in numbers on trolleys in two local hospitals in 2021

The number of patients waiting on trolleys in Portiuncula and Tullamore hospitals increased substantially in 2021, when compared with the previous year.

Mullingar hospital, meanwhile, had more than 2,500 people awaiting a bed over the course of last year, a figure which was a slight decrease on the number seen in 2020.

Figures issued by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) showed that a combined total of 6,759 people spent time waiting on trolleys or in wards for admission in the Ballinasloe, Tullamore and Mullingar hospitals last year.

This was up by 1,849, or 37.6%, on the total from 2020.

The INMO described the rise in the number of patients on trolleys during the second year of the pandemic as "completely unacceptable."

In Portiuncula, the number of people waiting for a bed in the hospital more than doubled in 2021, increasing to 1,838 from 888 the previous year.

The increase in Tullamore was almost as significant, with the total number of patients on trolleys rising to 2,323 from 1,254 the previous year.

Mullingar hospital continued to experience the region's largest number of patients on trolleys, with its 2021 total of 2,598 representing a decrease of 6%, or 170 patients, on the 2020 total of 2,768.

Nationally, trolley figures were up by 31% last year, with the largest numbers seen in Limerick, Cork, Letterkenny and Galway hospitals.

Commenting on the increase INMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: "Hospital overcrowding should never be acceptable, especially when we have a highly transmissible virus.

"Radical action is now needed to curb the unacceptable levels of overcrowding in our hospitals. This is not a new phenomenon; the health service cannot continue to make the same decisions year in year out and expect different outcomes."

She urged the health service to implement some new measures in the short term such as increasing the level of care for sick non-emergency patients in the private sector, and carrying out an immediate review of pre-hospital and post discharge care to assist with the pressures on acute public hospitals.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha also called for the full implementation and funding of the of nursing and midwifery staffing review, and for increased supports to provide nursing and midwifery-led care in the community.

"We have a nursing and midwifery workforce that are running on empty. They are looking for some kind of indication from their employer that things will be different this year.

"The commitment nurses and midwives have shown, especially in the last month with the arrival of Omicron, has been exemplary. While many staff are on Covid-related sick leave, others are cancelling leave and staying longer than they are rostered to ensure patients are looked after.

"The INMO has raised red flag after red flag with the HSE and Government. We need to see urgent action by curtailing all non-emergency activity in our public hospitals," she concluded.