The number of people waiting for a hospital bed in the north west in November has risen by over 50% in 2016 compared to the same month last year.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation trolley watch report was released this morning and shows a national increase of 26% in the same period.
Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation figures show there were 588 patients waiting for hospital beds in the north west in November.
That’s 200 more than the same time in 2015 when there were 388 waiting on trolleys and in overflow areas of wards.
Letterkenny University hospital had the majority with 481 people waiting for a bed at some point last month, an increase of 161% on the same month last year while Sligo University Sligo saw 107 waiting, an almost 100% reduction.
Liam Doran general secretary of the INMO says it’s been the worst November on record for Letterkenny.
Letterkenny had one of the highest waiting numbers nationally while Sligo saw the third lowest number of patients on trolleys.
Despite this, Liam Doran says the hospital in Sligo is still overwhelmed.
From January to November of this year there were 3,836 patients awaiting admission at some point. That is less than 1,000 on the same time frame last year.
Nationally there were almost 86,000 patients waiting for a hospital bed at some point in 2016, a 1% reduction on the previous year.
However, the figures for November 2016 saw a 26% increase on November 2015 with 9,306 waiting for a bed.
Today there are 14 people waiting for a hospital bed in Letterkenny with nobody waiting in Sligo.
