Portiuncula Hospital experienced its worst August since records began for overcrowding this month, with over 300 patients on trolleys.
There were 304 patients without a bed at the Ballinasloe hospital in August, almost twice as bad as the next highest figure, 185 in August 2022.
INMO figures also show that UHG was extremely overcrowded this month, with 920 people on trolleys in August, the third highest figure in the country.
This is also the second worst August on record for University Hospital Galway, exceeded only by 1,166 patients without a bed in the same month last year.
NMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that there is no doubt that this winter will continue the pattern of “difficult and dangerous times” in Irish hospitals.
“The summer period used to see an easing off in overcrowding figures but this year numbers admitted to inappropriate spaces, trolleys and chairs have been alarmingly high too early in the season.”
“The new so-called target of no more than 320 people on trolleys set by HSE was only achieved on five days this year.”
“Last year was the previous record for August overcrowding, and the winter that followed was honestly beyond what we could have imagined.”
“This August is somehow worse again, and our members are worried, for themselves, and for their patients, about what is in store for them over the coming months.”
This was the worst August for overcrowding nationwide since the INMO began recording trolley numbers, with over 9,720 patients admitted to hospital without a bed.
The number of children on trolleys is escalating at a worrying rate with over 167 children admitted to hospital without a bed throughout the month of August.
The worst affected hospitals were University Hospital Limerick (1,885), Cork University Hospital (984), University Hospital Galway (920), Sligo University Hospital (737), and Letterkenny University Hospital (539).
“The ongoing increase shows how urgently we need to implement safe staffing legislation, so that hospitals have sufficient staff to diagnose, treat and discharge patients safely, and vulnerable people are not languishing on trolleys and chairs for days at a time.
“Medical evidence shows that spending more than six hours on a trolley is detrimental to a patient’s long-term health outcomes,” Phil Ní Sheaghdha added. “In stark terms it increases the mortality rate by over 8%.”
She said that the situation is not being addressed with the required urgency or focus, and that constant overcrowding is the chief reason so many nurses and midwives are leaving, or exiting the profession altogether.
