HomeNewsLimerick hospital's second year at top of overcrowding table

Limerick hospital’s second year at top of overcrowding table

By Bernie English

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December 7, 2017

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University Hospital Limerick: Highest number of people waiting for a bed in Ireland — Picture: Alan Place

UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick (UHL) has recored the highest number of patients on trolleys in the country for the second year running.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, there were 8,116 patients waiting for a bed up to the end of November which was an 11 per cent increase on the 7,504 patients recorded in November 2016.

The overall numbers decreased countrywide by seven per cent over the same period.

Taking the month of November alone, UHL also had the highest figures nationally, with 878 patients recorded on trolleys. Numbers hit a new high last week when there were 69 patients waiting for a bed on one day.

Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan said the overcrowding crisis “shows no signs being fixed.

“I fear that the action needed will only happen after a tragedy occurs due to the overcrowding levels and by that stage it will be too late. I am constantly raising the issues facing University Hospital Limerick in the Dáil, but the government is not listening,” he said.

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Bernie English http://www.limerickpost.ie

Bernie English has been working as a journalist in national and local media for more than thirty years. She worked as a staff journalist with the Irish Press and Evening Press before moving to Clare. She has worked as a freelance for all of the national newspaper titles and a staff journalist in Limerick, helping to launch the Limerick edition of The Evening Echo. Bernie was involved in the launch of The Clare People where she was responsible for business and industry news.

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