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06th Apr 2016

The Emergency Care Crisis In Irish Hospitals Is Worsening

Ellen Tannam

The number of people on trolleys in our hospitals is rising, according to Fergal Hickey, a consultant in emergency medicine at Sligo University Hospital.

He spoke on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland describing how patients are being forced to endure this ordeal every day.

Hickey had spoken of a ‘brief improvement’ while people were focused on the crisis during the election but now there is still no government in place things are going downhill fast.

According to Mr. Hickey, there just aren’t enough beds to meet the demand of patients and problems will continue unless this is tackled.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) listed a number of hospitals affected by the increase in patient congestion including Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore, Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Limerick.

Hickey went on to say that the difficult working conditions faced by staff are making it harder to recruit new people and many older nurses are finding the conditions ‘intolerable’.