Figures published today by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show that over 70,000 patients had to wait on a bed in Irish hospitals in 2021 – with 5,778 of those at Letterkenny University Hospital.
Letterkenny University Hospital was the third most overcrowded hospital in the state last year, only behind Limerick and Cork University Hospitals.
According to the INMO, in December alone 988 patients at Letterkenny University Hospital had to wait on a bed, as the hospital faced staff shortages and a Covid outbreak.
Hospitals are both understaffed and extremely busy, with many staff isolating due to Covid-19.
That’s according to INMO General Secretary, Phil Ni Sheagdha, who says the trend of so many people waiting on trolleys was “extraordinarily dangerous”:
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