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IT was the worst January ever for patients waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Kerry.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) Trolley Watch Figures, for the month showed that there were 382 patients waiting on trolleys in the Emergency Department or elsewhere in the hospital. This is up from 187 on the same month in 2016.
Nationally, 12,201 people waited on trolleys in Emergency Departments or on additional beds placed throughout hospitals, during the month of January.
This is an 18% increase over the numbers last January, which themselves were a record high and is a 128% increase on the numbers recorded in 2007.
The most overcrowded hospital in the Eastern region was St Vincent’s University Hospital with 559 people waiting on trolleys and 1,003 were recorded for the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, the highest outside of Dublin.
Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin and National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght recorded an additional 192 children, waiting on trolleys, during January.
