Over 931 patients are without beds in Irish hospitals today according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. This is the highest number of patients that have been without a hospital bed since the trade union began counting trolleys in 2006. 

767 patients are on trolleys in emergency departments and 164 are on trolleys elsewhere in hospitals. 26 children have been admitted to hospital without a bed. 

Commenting on today’s trolley figures, INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:

“Today’s numbers require immediate and serious intervention from the government.  

“We do not need those at the top to describe how we got here; we need to know what exactly the plan is from today until the end of February. Just telling people to avoid hospitals is not a plan or indeed safe.  The public need to know exactly what type of care they can expect over the next six weeks.”

“Our members are extremely disillusioned by the current set of circumstances they are working in. We are not seeing unsustainable overcrowding confined to a handful of hospitals, each hospital is facing significant overcrowding challenges, a trend which has continued to escalate since late summer. Our members are treating patients in inhumane and often unsafe conditions. 

“We need Government to now make difficult decisions including the return of mandated mask-wearing in congregated settings. We know that one of the main pressure points in our health service is the rise of respiratory infections. Asking people to return to mask-wearing in busy congregated settings is a simple measure. 

“Over the coming days we need to see real tangible plans and decisions at a national level about the ensured safety in our acute public hospitals”

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