There has been an over 140% increase in the number of patients waiting on trolleys in University Hospital Kerry in May, compared to the same month last year.
That’s according to figures from the Irish Nurses’ and Midwives’ Organisation.
They show over 250 patients were waiting on trolleys in UHK last month.
Nationally, over 9,800 (9,811) patients were admitted to hospital without a bed during the month of May.
Of these, 251 were waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Kerry throughout the month.
That’s an increase of 141.3% when compared to the previous year (2025), when 104 people were waiting for a bed at UHK in May.
The figure stood at 261 in 2023, while a further 276 people were without a bed in 2022 and 146 people waited on trolleys in UHK during May of 2021.
In 2016, 85 patients waited for a bed in UHK during May.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha, who is from Ventry, said the number of people on trolleys last month was far too high with regular daily trolley counts over 500 people nationwide.
She says if we are seeing these levels of overcrowding now, then serious consideration needs to be given to how the HSE is going to make hospitals safer over the winter months.
