Over 5,400 people admitted to Letterkenny hospital without a bed in 2023

Over 5,400 people were admitted to Letterkenny University Hospital without a bed in 2023.

According to figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), some 5,448 people were admitted to LUH without a bed in the last 12 months.

LUH has been regularly towards the top of the INMO’s daily Trolley Watch table, which shows the amount of people nationwide who are admitted to hospitals without a bed.

The figure for LUH is down from 7,008 in 2022. The number of people has risen sharply since 2016, when the INMO said that 2,047 people were admitted to LUH without a bed during the entire year.

Nationally, 122,879 patients, including 3,494 children, were admitted to hospital without a bed in 2023.

“Irish nurses and midwives are working in hospitals that are in a near constant state of overcrowding coupled with short staffing,” said INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said.

“There is an increased demand for services due to a growing and ageing population. While services have expanded, which is to be welcomed, the staffing levels are not matching the growing demand on service provision.”

The INMO met with the HSE and the Department of Health on two occasions in the lead-up to the Christmas break. Recognising the anticipated surge in influenza, COVID, and RSV infections in January, the INMO is asking for an exemption for critical front-line staff from the recruitment freeze.

Ní Sheaghdha said: “Now is the time to keep and encourage staff to work in our public health service. With a rising turnover rate, we are tirelessly working to stem the tide of unsafe nurse staffing—an imposition of a moratorium on frontline staff is an obvious own goal.”

The INMO is asking that all all accessible capacity in private hospitals be utilised in order to boost capacity and that all non-urgent elective care is postponed until February to redirect resources and prioritise critical needs.

They are also urging health chiefs to implement more robust infection control measures across all hospitals to ensure a safer environment for both patients and healthcare professionals and to issue stronger public health advice to the public.