Figures released this morning show 110 people were waiting on trolleys in Wexford General Hospital in March.
The figures come as anyone who is injured or feeling unwell this long weekend is being urged to consider a pharmacy, out of hours GP or injury clinic as their first port-of-call.
The HSE says hospitals are already ‘extremely busy’, and it wants people to stay away unless absolutely necessary.
Wexford say the hospital have implemented several measures to reduce the number of patients waiting on trolleys. However, some are experiencing very long wait times in the Acute medical assessment unit and Emergency Department.
Sinn Fein Health spokesperson David Cullinane more money for healthcare, and an end to the HSE recruitment freeze are urgently needed.
Nationally, 9,856 patients went without a hospital bed in the month of March according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The top 5 most overcrowded hospitals include:
1 University Hospital Limerick (1,961 patients)
2 Cork University Hospital (1,079 patients
3 University Hospital Galway (685 patients)
4 St. Vincent’s University Hospital (605 patients)
5 Sligo University Hospital (525 patients)
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
“It has been an extremely busy month in Irish hospitals. We are still continuing to see a worrying number of patients on trolleys in hospitals across the western seaboard and in the Midwest.
“INMO members who are rostered to work this bank holiday weekend are more and more concerned about the ever-increasing risks associated with the provision of services in constantly overcrowded and a progressively under-staffed service.
“The act is that nurses and midwives will be working short in wards that have significant vacancies due to the HSE recruitment moratorium. The INMO discussed the grave impact that the recruitment freeze is having on the working lives of our members at a conciliation conference organised through the WRC yesterday.
“INMO officials were joined by experienced Directors and Assistant Directors of Nursing at the WRC yesterday to give the real human impact the recruitment freeze is having on patients, nurses and midwives. Progress was made at the WRC and talks will continue.”
