Overcrowding problems escalate at Mayo University Hospital due to bed shortages
Thirty-five patients are on trolleys at Mayo University Hospital today due to the shortage of beds.
Up to 25 are in the emergency department and 10 are in wards elsewhere.
Up to 18 new Covid cases are also in care at the Castlebar facility.
In a statement, the hospital explained: "There is ongoing pressure on bed availability in the hospital in part due to the increase in the number of patients with Covid-19 admitted over the last week.
"The hospital is committed to treating everyone who presents at the ED; people who are seriously injured or ill are assessed and treated as a priority and those who do not require urgent care may be waiting longer.
"Given the volume of patients attending the emergency department, the hospital is asking the public to contact their GP during normal surgery hours or GP out of hours service in the first instance if their health problem is not urgent.
"In addition, the injury unit in Roscommon University Hospital is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day to treat a range of injuries in both adults and children over five years of age."
Nationally, 515 admitted patients are waiting for beds, according to today’s INMO Trolley Watch.
Of those, 422 patients are waiting in the emergency department while 93 are in wards elsewhere in the hospital.
INMO General Secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: “Today’s trolley figures are a record since the pandemic began. We have not seen this many people on trolleys since February 26, 2020.
“While these numbers are not a surprise to those who work in our hospitals, it should be a wakeup call to the HSE and the government. We can’t allow this trend to continue into the depths of winter.
“The Minister of Health and the chief executive of the HSE need to publish their plan for winter this week. We cannot have a repeat of winter 2019 while we are also faced with Covid in our hospitals.
“We cannot afford to have hundreds of people on trolleys every day, while over 400 healthcare staff are being infected with Covid every week.
"If the HSE and government are serious about the well-being of healthcare workers they would publish their plan to mitigate the problems we are having in our acute hospitals as a matter of urgency.”