More than 10,000 patients were forced to wait without hospital beds last month, according to a new monthly analysis by the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO). Every morning at 8am, INMO members count how many patients are waiting in the emergency department for a bed and how many are waiting in wards elsewhere in the hospital. These patients are often being treated on trolleys in corridors, but they may also be on chairs, in waiting rooms, or simply wherever there’s space. The worst-affected hospitals were University Hospital Limerick (1,206 patients); Cork University Hospital (826 patients); University Hospital Galway (683 patients); South Tipperary General Hospital (623 patients); and Tallaght University Hospital (566 patients). “This is the second month in 2019 where over 10,000 patients have been forced to wait without a bed,” she said.

Source: The Irish Times May 01, 2019 05:15 UTC