Trolley figures in the North West and the rest of the country should be treated as a National emergency.
Those are the views of a representative of the INMO who was reacting to the latest set of figures that placed Sligo and Letterkenny University Hospitals among the top four of most over-crowded hospitals in the country.
Despite it being early September there are over 80 people waiting for a bed at the north west’s two main hospitals.
The figures reported that there were 50 people waiting on a bed in Sligo with 30 in the emergency department.
The number at Letterkenny stood at 33 with 14 waiting in the emergency department.
Nationally there are 524 people currently in Hospitals throughout the country waiting on beds.
Medical evidence shows that spending more than six hours on a trolley is detrimental to a patient’s long term health outcome, according to the Irish Nurses’ and Midwives’ Organisation.
Colm Porter from the INMO says, in stark terms, it increases mortality rates:
