University Hospital Galway is the second most overcrowded hospital in Ireland today, with 39 patients without a bed this morning.
There are 37 patients waiting on trolleys in the Emergency Department at UHG, with two more in the wards without a bed.
At Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe there are a further 17 patients without beds, seven in the A&E and ten more in the wards.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation carries out a tally of patients on trolleys and waiting for a bed in Ireland’s acute hospitals at 8am each morning.
According to Trolley Watch/Ward Watch there are 387 patients admitted to Irish hospitals today for whom no bed is available.
As usual UH Limerick is the worst affected in the country, with 65 patients waiting for a bed, followed by UHG, and the Letterkenny University Hospital with 35.
Phil Ní Sheaghdha, INMO General Secretary, has said that clarity is needed on what the €22.2 billion Department of Health allocation in the budget will mean for hiring nurses and midwives, and improving pay.
“We need funding to implement the framework, which determines the safe levels of nurse to patient ratio following on from Budget 2022, just like we have a pupil-teacher ratio that advises on the optimum number of children in a classroom to one teacher.”
“We are hearing examples in our hospitals of one nurse to fifteen patients in a ward. This is not a safe environment for the nurse or patients.”
