Letterkenny University Hospital had the highest figure of patients on trolleys during the month of August this year since records began in 2006.
409 patients at the hospital were forced to wait without a bed in August 2019 – the highest number ever recorded in August at the LUH Emergency Department.
The figure is up 14% from a total of 359 patients on trollies in August 2018. In 2013 the number stood at just seven patients over the month.
The latest analysis from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation found that 9,562 patients, including 48 children, were on trollies awaiting admission across Ireland’s hospitals last month.
The daily national trolley figure was higher every day in August than the same day in 2018, with an average daily total 28% higher than last year.
INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: “This is the tragic ongoing reality in Ireland’s health service. To see nearly 10,000 patients on trolleys is bad in itself, but this is a summer month. These figures signal an even more dangerous winter, when extra demands are typically placed on hospitals.
“At the core of the problem is staffing, as there are well over 1,300 nursing and midwifery vacancies across the health service. This is no time for recruitment bans. Vacancies need to be filled so that patients get the care they need. The HSE’s recruitment ban has got to go.”
