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

According to its latest TrolleyWatch figures, a total of 8,636 patients were left waiting on trolleys during the first month of 2022, with University Hospital Limerick the worst affected hospital (1,300).

It was followed by Letterkenny University Hospital (817), Cork University Hospital (750) and University Hospital Galway (738).

The worst affected hospital in Dublin during January was St Vincent’s University Hospital (420), while the worst affected children’s hospital was Temple Street Children’s University Hospital (73).

Responding to the figures, the INMO insisted that the health service cannot allow chronic overcrowding to become the norm again.

“We cannot allow a return to pre-2020 business as usual in our hospitals where chronic overcrowding is allowed to continue. It is only the first month of the year and we had overcrowding records broken in our hospitals, with University Hospital Limerick logging record overcrowding two days in a row last week.

“We have seen the highest levels of January overcrowding since the INMO began TrolleyWatch in 2006 in University Hospital Limerick, Letterkenny University Hospital, Mercy University Hospital, Portunicula Hospital, Sligo University Hospital and University Hospital Galway,” explained INMO general secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha.

She emphasised that Covid “is still rampant in many hospitals” and that INMO members are “frankly embarrassed and tired of apologising to patients for the poor standard of care environments”.

“The HSE must take steps to ensure that this chronic overcrowding isn’t allowed to continue into February, March and beyond. It should once again issue guidance to all hospitals on curtailing non-urgent elective procedures until the end of February and bespoke plans should be produced for hospitals where chronic overcrowding is a persistent feature of the hospital environment,” Ms Ní Sheaghdha added.