South Tipperary General Hospital fourth worst in the country for patients on trolleys in 2019

South Tipperary General Hospital was the fourth worst hit in the country in 2019 for patients waiting on trolleys.

The number on trolleys for the year was 6,942 for the Clonmel hospital.

The only hospitals with a higher number were the large city hospitals in Limerick, Cork and Galway.

The Clonmel figure was even higher than Waterford.

118,367 patients went without hospital beds in 2019, according to the end-of-year analysis by the INMO.

This confirms 2019 as the worst-ever year for hospital overcrowding since records began - 9% higher than 2018.

Over 1,300 of the patients were children younger than 16. The worst months for overcrowding in 2019 were November (12,055), October (11,452), and September (10,641).

The worst-hit hospitals in 2019 included:

• University Hospital Limerick - 13,941

• Cork University Hospital – 11,066

• University Hospital Galway – 7,993

• South Tipperary General Hospital – 6,942

• University Hospital Waterford – 6,313

The INMO points to understaffing and a lack of capacity as key drivers of overcrowding. There are 411 fewer inpatient beds in Ireland’s hospitals today than a decade ago, despite a larger, older population.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:

“Things are getting worse, not better. These figures should be falling, but we’re going the wrong direction. 2019 saw thousands more patients without proper beds – often at one of the most vulnerable points in their lives.

“Overcrowding used to be a winter problem. Now it’s an all-year problem, which gets worse in winter.

“The most frustrating part is that we know how to solve this problem: increase staffing and bed capacity, expand community care, and get going with the Sláintecare reforms.

“Instead, the HSE continues to enforce its rigid recruitment controls, starving hospitals and community services of the staff they need. Our members are rightly appalled by the conditions they are forced to work and care for patients in.

“2020 should be a year where understaffing and overcrowding are brought under control, but that simply won’t happen without investment and an end to the recruitment ban.”