INMO Marks 20 Years of TrolleyWatch as Survey Highlights Staff Burnout

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has used the launch of its 107th annual conference in Dundalk to highlight two converging pressures on the Irish health service: more than 1.7 million patients placed on hospital trolleys since 2006, and a workforce reporting widespread stress, burnout, and unsafe conditions.

Marking 20 years of TrolleyWatch, the INMO confirmed that 1,766,939 patients have been admitted to hospital without a bed since the union began counting in January 2006. Over one million of those have been recorded in the last decade alone.

Cork University Hospital accounts for 145,827 of that total. Mercy University Hospital in Cork has recorded 51,692, and Bantry General Hospital 7,642 over the same period.

Phil Ní Sheaghdha, INMO General Secretary:

"Since the INMO first launched TrolleyWatch in 2006, over 1.7 million people have been admitted to hospital without a bed. This problem has accelerated since 2016, as one million patients have been on a trolley in the last decade. This is a shameful statistic when you consider the amount of economic growth during this period."

The union also released its 2026 member survey at the conference, with findings showing widespread strain across the workforce.

Over two thirds (67%) of respondents stated that current staffing levels and skill mix did not meet the required clinical and patient demands in their work area. Almost a quarter (24.1%) reported attending their GP due to work related stress in the past 12 months, and over 39% said their work was negatively impacting their psychological wellbeing.

Of the 61% who had considered leaving their work area in the past month, 80% reported unsafe staffing levels. Almost half (46%) of respondents felt pressured to work additional hours or shifts.

Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

"The main solution to solving rising levels of burnout is underpinning safe staffing policies with legislation. If workplaces were guaranteed to be safe, it would lessen the burden on nurses and midwives. The voluntarist approach to implementing safe staffing policies is clearly not working."

Caroline Gourley, INMO President:

"It is worrying that nurses and midwives do not have adequate protection in the workplace. Clearly, without safe staffing legislation in place, the HSE are going to continue to ignore the safe staffing policies."

The conference theme, Wellbeing, Safety and Solidarity, will see members debate motions on staffing, safety concerns, and protecting their own health.