228 patients waited on trolleys in University Hospital Kerry’s Emergency Department throughout February.
That’s according to figures Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation.
The number of patients waiting for a bed in UHK in February this year, is almost 50% lower than pre-pandemic levels.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha, who is from Ventry, says it’s been an incredibly difficult month in Irish hospitals with consistent overcrowding in all parts of the country.
The INMO figures show that 228 patients were on trolleys in UHK in February, that’s compared to 88 for the same month in 2021.
However, this year’s figure is almost a 50% decrease when compared to 2020, which saw 449 people waiting on trolleys; that was the highest number recorded, according to these figures which cover from 2006 to this year.
359 waited for treatment on trolleys in UHK during February 2019 and there were 357 in 2018.
In 2009, there were just 38 people waiting on trolleys in UHK during February.
Nationally this year, 9,869 patients were without a bed in the month of February; that exceeds pre-pandemic levels of 8,515 in 2019.
