The number of people on trolleys at University Hospital Kerry is at an all-time high for August.
In 2008, a total of eight people waited on trolleys at UHK during the month of August; this year, the figure was 327, 36 times higher. That's according to analysis of Trolley Watch figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
These Trolley Watch figures for the month of August date back to 2006, when 94 patients were on trolleys in University Hospital Kerry during August. That dropped to 55 the following year, and again fell to an all-time low in 2008 and 2009 of just nine people who had to wait on trolleys at UHK throughout August.
The figure began to rise again in 2010, up to 37, then to 70 the following year, and 81 in 2012. The numbers on trolleys at UHK during August fell to 49 in 2013, but began to rise again, up to 95 in 2014, 108 in 2015, 148 people in 2016, 170 in 2017, and 300 patients in 2018.
There was a drop to 266 in 2019, and another fall in 2020 to 208 patients, but it jumped to the highest figure ever recorded for an August at University Hospital Kerry of 327 patients waiting on trolleys.
