The number of patients on trolleys at Letterkenny University Hospital has dropped by 14% compared to this time last year.
February 2020 saw 352 patients waiting on trolleys in the LUH Emergency Department. The number is down from February 2019, when 407 patients were recorded on the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s trolley watch analysis.
Letterkenny differs from the national trend, as hospitals across Ireland recorded an average increase of 23% more people on trolleys compared to February last year.
The worst-hit hospitals in February 2020 included:
University Hospital Limerick: 1,286
Cork University Hospital: 1,031
University Hospital Galway: 805
South Tipperary General Hospital: 653
St Vincent’s University Hospital: 535
INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: “The long-running trolley crisis has to be priority number one in the government talks. 10,000 people have lining the corridors and waiting rooms of Ireland’s hospital in February. Our members are forced to provide care in appalling conditions.
“Meanwhile qualified healthcare staff are queueing up to work, but hospitals are unable to hire them. We have asked the health spokespeople of all the major parties to lift the recruitment embargo, and whatever the make-up of the next government we will insist that the these obstacles to safe staffing are removed immediately.”
