Ireland’s ever stretched health service is getting worse by the day as latest figures published by the Irish Nurses Midwives Organisation (INMO) revealed that there was over 9,000 people left waiting on trolleys during the month of October.
The figures published this week have showed that the trolley crisis has recorded it’s worst ever October with 9,055 people being forced to wait at A&E departments across the country.
In what has been described as a scandal, the figures showed that it was one of the worst ever months recorded since the organisation’s trolley watch began back in 2006.
According to the latest figures five hospitals across the country had more than 500 patients waiting on trolleys last month, whilst a number of smaller hospitals experienced severe overcrowding given their official bed capacities.
The worst affected hospitals included University Hospital Galway, (716Â patients), Cork University Hospital (647), Letterkenny University Hospital, (572) , and Mater University Hospital (519).
Latest figures has led to further calls being issued to Department of Health to address the situation with the INMO saying a decrease in staffing levels has led to the increase in overcrowding.