THERE was a 120% increase in patients waiting on trolleys in KGH last month compared to the same period last year, according to the figures released today by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

The news comes as the Emergency Department at Kerry General Hospital (KGH) has been described as ‘exceptionally busy’ over the last number of days according to the Health Service Executive (HSE).

It’s been revealed that 121 patients presented themselves to the department on one day alone on Monday June 8, resulting in long delays in the department with some patients waiting a number of hours to be seen.

There were 169 people waiting on trolleys last month at KGH, up from 77 in May 2014, the most since INMO records began in 2006. Nationally, 7,713 patients waited on a trolley for an in-patient bed in May 2015, up 31% on 2014.

The figures are up 83%, on May 2006, the year the then Minister for Health declared the crisis a national emergency.

North Kerry/West Limerick TD Martin Ferris of Sinn Fein, expressed his dismay about the current situation in KGH and brought the matter up in the Dáil on Wednesday night when he gave examples of people’s experiences, including  a man in his 80s who spent 26 hours on a trolley at the hospital earlier this month.

Speaking today, INMO General Secretary, Liam Doran said: “This last week we have seen a new dimension to the crisis in our Emergency Departments when two elderly ladies, both over a hundred years old, had to suffer the indignity of spending more than 24 hours on a trolley awaiting a hospital bed.  This is a damning indictment of our society and the way we treat our frail elderly citizens and an embarrassment to our members who have to treat patients in these inhumane and unsafe conditions.”

The figures for people waiting on trolleys in Kerry General Hospital in May since records began:

2006 – 102

2007 – 20

2008 – 33

2009 – 11

2010 – 38

2011 – 56

2012 – 26

2013 – 42

2014 – 77

2015 – 169