Numbers on hospital trolleys show big drop as Taoiseach arrives

Galway City Tribune – Patients were accommodated overnight in the Medical Assessment Unit and a closed ward was reopened ahead of the visit by the Taoiseach yesterday, when numbers languishing on trolleys plummeted from 58 to 26.

University Hospital Galway (UHG) was the third most overcrowded in the State this week with 125 patients being treated on trolleys in the emergency department and on corridors throughout the wards. On Wednesday the number hit 58, one of the highest so far this year.

Anne Burke, spokesperson for the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO), said there were 100 patients being treated in the emergency department on Wednesday morning – that had dropped to 20 by 8pm that evening. Patients were waiting 14 hours to be either admitted or discharged.

“It was horrendous, absolutely horrendous. We had three patients in a two-bay resuscitation room – nearly four weeks ago five were in that room – and these are patients who are at risk of cardiac arrest or suspected stroke,” she exclaimed.

“On Wednesday, they said the number of probable discharges was 37, whether they were fully fit to be discharged we don’t know, that’s not my call. But the numbers on trolleys between the wards and the emergency department had dropped to 26 by 6.30am yesterday (Thursday).”

She revealed that eight beds on St Finbar’s Ward which had been closed for a number of weeks due to a lack of staff were opened this week.
To read the rest of this article and for more on the Taoiseach’s visit, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.