Trolley crisis hits 7,600 in local hospitals
Over 7,600 patients were treated on trolleys in Galway’s public hospitals during 2015, according to figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
Portiuncula had its highest ever number of patients treated on trolleys at 1,100, while University Hospital Galway had 6,514, just marginally lower than the highest figure of 6,544 in 2011. That’s 7,614 in total.
And that has led Sinn Féin’s Roscommon/Galway election candidate, Claire Kerrane, to slam the Government for ‘failing spectacularly to keep its promise to end the trolley crisis’.
Ms Kerrane’s comments coincide with her party’s publication of a Private Member’s motion on the crisis in hospital emergency departments, which will be debated on and voted on in the Dáíl this week.
“The figures released by the INMO are a damning indictment of this Government – they reveal that 92,998 people were cared for on hospital trolleys across this state in 2015 – the highest ever number recorded during the Trolley Watch Campaign, which began in 2006.
“This is completely unacceptable – anyone who is not committed to ending this scandal once and for all is not fit to be elected to office.
“Our motion calls for the recruitment of front line staff, the provision of additional funding to the Fair Deal Scheme, the provision of additional nursing home beds, a significant increase to home help and homecare packages and the establishment of an Emergency Department Taskforce on a permanent basis,” she added.