University Hospital Kerry experienced the worst overcrowding on record for the month of August this year.
Figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation show over 340 patients waited on trolleys in UHK throughout the month.
That’s the highest total for August, since records began in 2006.
The INMO figures show that 343 patients were on trolleys in UHK in August, that’s up from 327 for the same month last year.
In 2020, 208 patients were waiting for a bed at UHK during August, while it stood at 266 for the same month in 2019.
There were 300 people waiting for a bed at UHK in 2018 and 170 in 2017.
In 2009 and 2008, just nine people were waiting on trolleys in UHK during August, the lowest figure recorded.
Nationally during August, 9,603 patients were without a hospital bed, which is a new overcrowding record for the month.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha, who is from Ventry, says it’s the third time this year that another monthly overcrowding record has been broken.
She says the consistently high levels of overcrowding seen this summer are sounding the alarm for a very bleak winter ahead, unless immediate action is taken by the Minister for Health and HSE in the form of a fully funded, winter plan.
