LETTERKENNY University Hospital is the third most overcrowded hospital in the country today with 48 patients waiting on trolleys.
There are 15 patients on trolleys in the emergency department and 33 waiting on wards. University Hospital Limerick is the most overcrowded with 69 patients waiting on a bed followed by Cork University Hospital with 59.
According to the latest figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) last month saw more than 600 people on trolleys in Letterkenny.
The INMO has called for “meaningful intervention” from the HSE to tackle the problem.
“We are now in a situation that unless we see meaningful interventions from the HSE and Government, we are going to be in a perilous state this winter in our hospitals,” said INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha.
“Unsafe staffing levels are going to be a feature of this winter unless we see targeted recruitment and retention plans in each hospital to allow for more nurses and midwives to be recruited at the pace in which we need them, Directors of Nursing and Midwifery in each hospital should have a greater role in recruitment.
“The Department of Health and HSE must come forward and state when exactly capacity will be utilised from the private sector. All capacity that is available to the State at this point must be made available until at least March. Our members and the patients they will be caring for must be assured that all beds that can be used, will be.
“We urgently need access to private hospital resources, increased staffing and a detailed timeline for the winter plan.”
Covid-19
Covid-19 continues to put pressure on Letterkenny University Hospital. Last night there were 29 patients being treated with the virus, the joint second highest in the country behind University Hospital Waterford.
There was one patient with Covid-19 being treated in the Intensive Care Unit in Letterkenny at that time.
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