There was an almost 20% decrease in the numbers waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Kerry last year, compared to 2023.
Figures from the Irish Nurses’ and Midwives’ Organisation show there were over 3,100 patients waiting on trolleys at UHK last year.
Nationally, over 120,000 (122,186) people, including 2,043 children, were admitted to hospital without a bed last year (2024).
Of these, 3,180 were waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Kerry throughout all of last year.
It’s 17.1% decrease on the previous year, in 2023 there were 3,836 patients waiting for a bed at UHK.
The figure stood at 3,474 in 2022, while there were 2,409 people without a bed in 2021 and a further 2,350 people waited on trolleys in UHK in 2019.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha, who’s from Ventry, says we’ve reached the end of yet another year that has seen an unacceptable number of patients on trolleys.
She says nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals should not have to bear the brunt of public anger due to poor planning and lack of capacity in the health service year in, year out.
