The number of patients left on trolleys in Tipperary’s main hospital so far this year is at its highest level ever.
It comes as the main nursing union – the INMO – prepare for their 99th annual delegate conference with pay and conditions top of the agenda.
Between January and the end of April over 42,800 patients were treated on trolleys or in overflow areas of wards at hospitals across the country.
This is a 118% increase on the 2007 figures and up 19% on the same period last year.
In the first four months of 2018 2,255 people were left without a bed at South Tipp General in Clonmel – an increase of 13% on last year and a staggering 1000% higher than 2007.
In April alone 571 patients were treated on trolleys at the Clonmel health facility.
Frontline staff at University Hospital Limerick – which caters for North Tipperary, Limerick and Clare – have had to deal with 4,030 people on trolleys since January with over 1,000 of those last month.
That’s up 41% on the same period last year and more than 600% above the 2007 figures.
University Hospital Limerick is the busiest in the country today with 48 patients without a bed which South Tipp General is third highest at 36.
