There has been a 40 per cent reduction in the number of patients left on trolleys in Dublin hospitals according to figures released today by the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) today.
Liam Doran
The INO said that the provision of additional acute beds helped ease the situation in Dublin. Extra bed capacity, from the private sector, as well as the provision of homecare packages also had a positive impact.
However, the organisation found that in hospitals outside Dublin, particularly Letterkenny, Drogheda, Cork, Limerick and Mayo, there was an increase of nearly four per cent.
The INO blamed the increase on the Government's failure to increase the bed capacity.
The General Secretary of the INO, Liam Doran, said the lack of progress in hospitals outside of Dublin was "disappointing".
"A&E overcrowding is still a national emergency and should continue to be so until we effectively eliminate this blight on the Irish public health service," Mr Doran said.
The organisation called for the HSE to establish small injury units in large urban areas to provide an alternative to A&E Departments. It also called for an expansion in the role of nurses and for a lifting of employment caps.
The figures taken were a daily average for the period of people on trolleys in A&E departments around the country from June 1st to September 30th this year.
