There was almost a 50% decrease in the number of people waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Kerry in March.
Figures from the Irish Nurses’ and Midwives’ Organisation show there were over 200 patients waiting on trolleys at UHK last month.
Nationally, almost 9,900 (9,856) patients were admitted to hospital without a bed during March.
Of these, 202 were waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Kerry throughout the third month of the year.
That’s a drop of over 49% when compared to the previous year, when 401 people were waiting for a bed at UHK during the month of March.
The figure stood at 338 in 2022, while there were 144 people without a bed in 2021 and a further 169 people waited on trolleys in UHK during March of 2020.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha, who’s from Ventry, says it has been an extremely busy month in Irish hospitals.
She says the fact is that nurses and midwives will be working short in wards that have significant vacancies due to the HSE recruitment moratorium.
