New figures published show the number of people on trolleys in hospital across the North West region increased significantly last year – after several years of decline.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, has found that in 2010, the number of people on trolleys, awaiting an in-patient bed, had increased nationally, since 2006, by 35% to over 75,000.
The five year study looks at the figures for the number of people waiting for beds in Sligo General Hospital and Letterkenny General Hospital.
In 2006 over 3,000 people were awaiting a bed in Letterkenny but this decreased to 1,200 in 2007 and dropped to just over 300 in 2008 but this increased to over 460 last year.
In Sligo General Hospital, over 700 people were waiting on trolleys for a bed in 2006 and 2007 this figure dropped to 667 in 2008 jumped to 955 during 2009 and increased to over 1,700 last year.
Following the study the INMO says that the initiatives, commenced in 2006, did have a temporary positive impact on the problem.
Their report shows that the phasing out of those positive initiatives, since 2008, has resulted in a steep increase in the level of A&E overcrowding and patients on trolleys; and 2010 is now confirmed as the worst year on record for overcrowding in the country’s A&E Departments.