UHG was the fifth most overcrowded hospital in Ireland this month, with more than 500 patients on trolleys in July.
However, the figure of 541 patients at UHG who have gone without a bed this month is an improvement on the same period in recent years.
Aside from the outlier of July 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic, when there was just a single patient on a trolley in the entire month, this is the lowest figure for UHG since 2018.
Last year the INMO Trolley Watch recorded 998 people on trolleys in July, while there were 592 in 2021, and 707 in 2019.
Portiuncula Hospital has also seen an improvement on its July trolley figures compared with the past two years.
The 199 patients on trolleys at Portiuncula this month is less than the figure for 2022 & 2021. However, it is still many times higher than all of the years prior to that.
Nationwide, 7,832 patients, including 138 children, went without a bed in Irish hospitals in July, which INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said is a red flag warning for the winter ahead.
“The HSE must set out very clearly what measures it intends to take to reduce the levels of overcrowding in our hospitals in the coming months.”
TrolleyWatch figures show 72,391 patients have gone without a bed in 2023, a 10% increase in the same time period in 2022.
The INMO has warned that the HSE must view this as a indication of what is now inevitable this winter and must act accordingly.
“It has been reported that the Cabinet has signed off on a year-round plan for the HSE, the INMO will be now seeking details of the staff support measures it contains as staff cannot be expected to just endure these conditions for another winter.”
“Last week, HIQA published inspection reports into some of Ireland’s busiest hospitals. They show that there is a pattern emerging across the vast majority of hospitals that unsafe levels of staffing is compromising both patient and staff safety.”
“Safe staffing underpinned by legislation must go hand-in-hand with any plan produced to tackle year-round overcrowding.”
