Over 7,000 patients were left waiting on trolleys in Irish hospitals during November - a 44% increase when compared with the same period last year, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said.

It is calling on the HSE and the Department of Health to declare the current overcrowding problems in the country's Emergency Departments (EDs) as a national emergency.

It pointed out that the number of people on trolleys last month was 53% higher when compared with the same period in 2006 - when a national emergency was declared.

According to the INMO's Trolley and Ward Watch figures, every hospital in Dublin recorded an increase in the number of patients on trolleys in November 2014 compared to November 2013. Some of the biggest increases were seen at:
-St Vincent's University Hospital - 63 patients on trolleys in 2013 rising to 250 in 2014
-St James's Hospital - 62 in 2013 rising to 231 in 2014
-Mater Hospital - 266 in 2013 rising to 450 in 2014.

A number of hospitals outside of Dublin also recorded big jumps in their trolley figures, including:
-Wexford General Hospital - 39 patients on trolleys in November 2013 rising to 197 in November 2014
-University Hospital Limerick - 399 in 2013 rising to 556 in 2014
-Sligo Regional - 32 in 2013 rising to 223 in 2014
-Our Lady Of Lourdes in Drogheda - 248 in 2013 rising to 584 in 2014.

The figures show that a total of 4,966 patients were left waiting on trolleys in November 2013, but this figure rose to 7,124 last month.

"The overcrowding of our country's EDs is now undoubtedly a national emergency and must be viewed as a crisis. We must stop pretending that patients can be properly looked after in hospitals that have 10, 20, 30 and 40 people on trolleys, in addition to their normal workload," commented INMO general secretary, Liam Doran.

He pointed out that patients treated in such situations ‘suffer a loss of dignity and privacy, which should not be acceptable in this country in any place at any time'.

He also insisted that staffing levels in hospitals are ‘unacceptably low and dangerous'.

The INMO said it wants to see a ‘sustained, extensive and nationwide response' to this issue immediately.

It called for the allocation of resources, in addition to the €25 million mentioned in the HSE's 2015 Service Plan, so that closed beds can be opened, community supports can be increased and staffing levels can be increased.

"We cannot ignore the compromising of care that accompanies every patient who following admission, is left on a trolley or chair in EDs all over this country. Reviews, words and plans are no longer enough. Firm, decisive, determined and sustained action are needed immediately," Mr Doran added.