Over 11,000 patients were left waiting on trolleys in hospitals nationwide during the first month of 2023, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said.

According to its latest Trolley Watch figures, 11,289 patients were left without a hospital bed during January. The worst affected hospital was University Hospital Limerick, with 1,180 patients left on trolleys. It was followed by Cork University Hospital (1,145), University Hospital Galway (728) and Letterkenny University Hospital (650).

The worst affected hospital in Dublin was St Vincent’s University Hospital (594), while the worst affected children’s hospital was Temple Street (179).

According to INMO general secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, “a lack of adequate planning has put unnecessary stress on nurses and the patients they are trying to provide care for”.

 “The number of patients on trolleys in wards outside our emergency departments (EDs) have been unacceptably high. This practice should not be allowed to continue as a measure to try take pressure off our EDs,” she insisted.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha pointed to the results of two recent opinion polls which found that over 75% of people would not visit an ED.

“The strategy of telling people not to attend hospital will have knock-on effects across the health service for months to come,” she suggested.

She said that the current approach involves waiting “until things get unbearably bad before an attempt is made to lessen the pressure on our public hospital system”.

“Nurses and their patients deserve better than this,” Ms Ní Sheaghdha added.