Over 8,600 patients were left waiting on trolleys in hospitals nationwide last month, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said.

According to its latest ‘Trolley Watch’ figures, a total of 8,680 admitted patients were left waiting without a hospital bed in May, with University Hospital Limerick the worst affected hospital (1,823 patients on trolleys).

It was followed by Cork University Hospital (898), Sligo University Hospital and University Hospital Galway, which both had 761 patients on trolleys and St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny (637).

The worst affected hospital in Dublin was St Vincent’s University Hospital (509) and the worst affected children’s hospital was Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin (45).

According to INMO general secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, May has been “another extremely difficult month for nurses and midwives”.

“May is traditionally a time in our hospitals when pressure begins to ease but our members have had no reprieve. Yet again, University Hospital Limerick is the most overcrowded hospital in the state. Nurses there are reporting that they are under tremendous pressure and are completely overwhelmed by the conditions they are working in. Nurses right across the country are reporting high levels of burnout,” Ms Ní Sheagdha noted.

She said that the HSE Emergency Taskforce should convene in Limerick, “so that all members can see first-hand the suboptimal conditions that healthcare staff are working in” and make recommendations on how to improve the situation there.

“The Minister for Health must make good on his proposed expert review of University Hospital Limerick. It has been over a month since he announced a review would take place, yet no terms of reference have been published and no meetings have been scheduled with this union,” she pointed out.

She insisted that if the government and the HSE are serious about retaining staff, “meaningful action must be taken to ensure safe care conditions for patients and staff”.

“No nurse wants to have to care for patients in suboptimal conditions. It is time for the HSE’s Emergency Taskforce to urgently reconvene to discuss overcrowding and realistic solutions to same on a hospital-by-hospital basis,” Ms Ní Sheaghdha added.