803 Patients Without Hospital Beds Across Ireland as Trolley Crisis Continues

Hospital overcrowding has reached critical levels today with 803 patients being treated on trolleys, chairs or other inappropriate spaces across Ireland's emergency departments and wards, according to figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The national trolley count for 13 January shows 485 patients waiting in emergency departments and a further 318 in ward areas without proper beds. Cork University Hospital recorded 90 patients on trolleys today, with 63 in the emergency department and 27 in ward areas, making it one of the most severely affected hospitals nationally. Mercy University Hospital in Cork had 24 patients without beds.

University Hospital Limerick recorded the highest figure nationally with 127 patients on trolleys, followed by Cork University Hospital's 90 and University Hospital Galway's 60.

Phil Ní Sheaghdha, INMO General Secretary, expressed serious concerns about patient safety:

"Yet again we are seeing huge numbers of patients being admitted to hospital without a bed today. We know when activity is this high across the system, patient and staff safety suffers."

The INMO highlighted particular concerns about elderly patients enduring extended waits in unsuitable conditions. In one hospital, a 90-year-old patient waited on a hard chair for over 45 hours before receiving a bed. Another location reported that over 72% of admitted inpatients are over 75 years old.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha added:

"The fact that older citizens who have been deemed sick enough for admission are being treated on trolleys, chairs and other inappropriate spaces for long periods is distressing."

Staffing shortages continue to compound the crisis across multiple hospitals. The INMO noted that unsafe staffing levels are undermining nurses' and midwives' ability to deliver safe and timely care, with unfilled rosters becoming routine rather than exceptional.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha stated:

"In many hospitals, unfilled rosters are becoming the norm rather than the exception, creating increasingly unsafe conditions for both nurses and patients."

The national figure includes just three children under 16 years old awaiting beds across the country's paediatric hospitals.