26 patients on trolleys at Mayo University Hospital today

A TOTAL of 26 patients are on trolleys at Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar today.

Twenty are located in the accident and emergency department and the other six are in wards.

There are 506 patients on trolleys in hospitals throughout the country today.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have launched an additional element to their existing Trolley and Ward Watch count.

From today, the INMO will now count and publish trolley figures for Ireland’s Children’s hospitals. These hospitals are; Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin, National Children's Hospital Tallaght, Children's University Hospital Temple Street.

If children are on trolleys in any of the regional hospitals this will also be recorded.

It is unfortunate that children are now regularly being admitted for hospital care without an inpatient bed.

The presence of trolleys in paediatric hospitals is a new phenomenon and the INMO Children’s’ Nurses Section highlighted that these trolleys numbers have not previously been included in the count.

The INMO have been monitoring the number of children on trolleys since November 2017.

The first two weeks of January 2018 has seen 73 of children on trolleys in the three paediatric hospitals.

Speaking today, INMO General Secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: “The negative outcome for patients arising from long trolley waits is proven and accepted.

"Exposing children to extended periods in an emergency department is unsatisfactory on many levels not least of which is the possible exposure to traumatic events. All systems, processes and procedures must aim to avoid unnecessary waiting times in EDs as a matter of urgency.”