There was a record number of patients on trolleys at Galway University Hospital today, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The union described as “unprecedented” the 52 patients on trolleys at the hospital today. There were 34 patients on trolleys in the emergency department, 12 in the medical assessment unit and six in patient wards, Regina Durkan the union’s spokeswoman for Galway said.
Ms Durkan said the full capacity protocol which means that patients are moved to wards had been implemented but the situation was “getting worse”.
The hospital “regrets that any patient has to wait for long periods for admission and is making every effort to ensure that patients are admitted to beds as appropriate across the hospital,” the Health Service Executive said in a statement.
The hospital was “extremely busy” and the full hospital protocol had been implemented to “safely manage patients” waiting for admission and “have facilities available for emergencies that may present” , the statement said.
The 12 patients transferred to wards meant an average of one or two extra patients in each ward, the statement added.
