Almost a quarter of patients on trolleys are at hospitals serving Tipperary

Photo © Pat Flynn

Nearly a quarter of the patients without a bed across the country today are in hospitals serving Tipperary.

According to the INMO there are a total of 481 patients being cared for on trolleys this afternoon.

People are being asked to stay away from the emergency department at South Tipp General today if possible.

The Clonmel hospital is the second most overcrowded in the country today – 41 patients who have been admitted there are without a bed this afternoon.

People are being asked to consult a GP in the first instance, but if members of the public are seriously injured or ill the Emergency Department at South Tipp General will assess and treat them as a priority.

Management at the Clonmel hospital have apologised for any inconvenience caused.

Meanwhile University Hospital Limerick – which covers North Tipp, Limerick and Clare – is the busiest in the country today.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says frontline staff there are coping with 71 patients left without a bed – 42 of these are on trolleys around the Emergency Department with a further 29 in wards elsewhere in the hospital.

In all there are 481 patients without a bed today with UHL and South Tipp General accounting for nearly a quarter of them.