The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said that in January, over 12,100 patients were without a hospital bed, reports RTE.
According to the INMO, University Hospital Limerick had 2,073 more patients without a bed this month than any other hospital.
University Hospital Galway (1,041) and Cork University Hospital (1,632) had the next-highest numbers, respectively, reports RTE.
In both Letterkenny University Hospital (709), and Sligo University Hospital (701), there were more than 700 patients without a bed.
In a statement, the INMO said: “Hundreds of people are sick enough to be admitted to hospital each day but there is no bed for them. Some of the care environments are totally inappropriate, in some instances the care is provided on chairs,” reports RTE.
“It is clear that capacity in the health system isn’t sufficient. We have not seen a significant drop in the number of patients on trolleys. We need more beds and we need more patient-facing staff,” it added, reports RTE.
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