HSE and INMO differ on number of trolley patients at State’s most overcrowded hospital

The HSE and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation are at loggerheads over the counting of patients on trolley’s at the State’s most overcrowded hospital.

University Hospital Limerick (UHL) had 112 patients on trolleys on Tuesday, by far the highest of any emergency department in the country, the INMO said. This almost three times the 40 patients the HSE recorded as being on trolleys at UHL.

After officials raised the discrepancy with the INMO, the union revised its count of trolley patients at UHL down to 85 patients, 34 in the emergency departments and 51 elsewhere in the hospital. This figure remains significantly higher than the 52 patients the HSE said were either on trolleys or in surge beds.

An INMO spokeswoman said there was an error in its count for the hospital on Tuesday. “The INMO count captures the admitted number of patients for whom there are no beds. When the error was spotted we released the accurate number.”

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Nationwide, hospital emergency departments came under growing pressure, with almost 500 patients waiting for admission on Tuesday morning according to the INMO count. The HSE counted 320 patients waiting for admission to hospitals, and another 296 on surge beds.

Overcrowding in hospitals is expected to increase further during the week as GPs re-open after the holiday break and start referring sicker patients to emergency departments.

North Dublin GP Dr Ray Walley said surgeries were “drowning” in flu and Covid-19 at the moment, though cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are on the decline.

According to the HSE, attendances at emergency departments were “relatively high” throughout the Christmas period, and GP out of hours services were also very busy.

“High levels of respiratory illness continue to circulate, and we are seeing increasing numbers of patients attending our EDs and subsequently being admitted due to respiratory symptoms.”

Up to 3,000 cases of respiratory illness are forecast over the coming weeks before infection levels decline.

The HSE is using private hospital capacity to alleviate the pressures on public hospital, and has also introduced stricter discharge rules to make it easier to free up beds for incoming patients. Many hospitals have pre-emptively cancelled elective surgeries in order to release more beds for emergency cases.

According to the INMO’s TrolleyWatch count, University Hospital Waterford, Beaumont Hospital, Crumlin children’s hospital and Tullamore hospital had no patients on trolleys on Tuesday morning.

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