Letterkenny hospital among most overcrowded as trolly figures branded ‘truly shocking’

Letterkenny University Hospital is the second most overcrowded hospital in the country today.

As of Monday morning, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) say that there are 57 people awaiting a bed at LUH. Of those, 21 are in the emergency department with 36 located elsewhere in the hospital on trollies.

Across the country there are 747 patients who have been admitted to hospital without a bed. University Hospital Limerick is the most overcrowded with 109 while there are 54 patients waiting on a bed at Sligo University Hospital.

LUH has been under serious strain of late. At one stage on Friday, there were 80 patients in the emergency department at the facility with a further 15 people awaiting admissions.

The Saolta University Health Care Group warned the public that all available beds were in use at that stage and noted that people faced ‘long waiting times’ for admission.

Staff at LUH are also dealing with a Covid-19 outbreak on two wards with 15 patients positive for the virus, Saolta said on Friday.

The INMO says that today’s figures are ‘truly shocking’.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: “Today’s trolley figures are truly shocking and should be a wake up call to the Health Service Executive, the Government and individual hospital groups that extraordinary steps must be taken to ensure that we are not replicating the same record breaking trolley numbers we saw at the beginning of this year.

“The HSE must take action in the form of accelerating the use of private hospital beds, the immediate cancellation of all non-urgent elective activity and the introduction of heightened infection control measures in all hospitals.”

The INMO is seeking ‘urgent engagement’ with the CEO of the HSE and the Minister for Health to discuss what measures can be taken.

The organisation says that the dignity of sick patients and the safety of nurses must be protected.

Ní Sheaghdha said: “The INMO has been warning that dangerous levels of overcrowding were imminent. There is still time to avoid intolerable levels of overcrowding ahead of Christmas and the New Year if action is taken now.”