Dublin: Uncontrolled overcrowding in hospitals across the west and north-west is placing both patients and staff at serious risk, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
Hundreds of patients are being left on trolleys, chairs, and in hospital corridors, with hospitals in Galway, Mayo, Sligo, and Letterkenny facing the greatest pressure. Nurses warn that patients left on trolleys for more than six hours face an increased risk of long-term health complications.
On Wednesday morning alone, 458 patients were on trolleys nationwide, including 155 in the western and north-western regions.
INMO Western Region Assistant Director Com Porter described the figures as “alarming”, stressing that both patient safety and staff wellbeing were at stake. He called for a specific action plan to address congestion, noting that chronic staff shortages and high attrition rates are leaving frontline workers unable to provide safe care.
The union criticised the HSE for failing to intervene effectively despite repeated warnings and urged the immediate removal of barriers preventing safe patient care.
“The HSE and the government must act now to alleviate the crisis in our hospitals,” the INMO said, warning that patients are suffering unnecessarily and frontline staff are working under unsafe conditions.
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