Looks like it's better to be sick in Dublin.

Health Minister Simon Harris has been outspoken on Mental Heath issues recently, but we wonder what he has to say about the state of Irish hospitals. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have just released their August figures showing how many people were forced on trolleys awaiting beds in Irish hospitals around the country. Although the August figures show that we are doing better than this time last year, there are clear geographical disparities in level of service, which is cause for concern. In Dublin, there were 1,397 people on trolleys in hospitals last month, compared to 2,364 this time last year. This is a whopping 41% decrease after only one year. However, other counties did not fare as well, in fact they saw a steady increase of 14% in the number of people waiting on hospital beds. The five most overcrowded hospitals for August were University Hospital Limerick – 610 Cork University Hospital- 473 South Tipperary General Hospital- 470 University Hospital Galway- 400 Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda-391 According to the young health minister's Twitter account, he has been doing surprise hospital visits today. https://twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD/status/771225927611146240 After publishing these figures, a representative from the INMO said that on top of overcrowding issues, the public health sector is finding it difficult to recruit and retain nursing staff. He is due to attend a meeting with the task force in charge of managing overcrowding in emergency departments today. For up to the minute information on hospital overcrowding, the INMO set up a website called trolley watch, which provides up to the minute information on how many people are waiting on trolleys nationwide. https://twitter.com/INMO_IRL/status/773116503529033728