MAJOR RISE IN OVERCROWDING AT GALWAY HOSPITALS

Date Published: 05-Apr-2011

Over 1,800 patients were left waiting on a trolley for a bed at Galway’s two largest hospitals in the first three months of the year.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has released a record of almost 25,000 people on trolleys in the country’s A&E departments.

Between January and March, 1,633 patients had to wait on trolleys for a bed at University Hospital Galway.

This is an increase of 30 per cent on 2010, when over 1,200 people were left on trolleys.

In Ballinasloe, 211 patients were placed on trolleys while waiting for a bed at Portiuncula hospital in the first three months of this year.