2016 has been a bad year for South Tipperary General Hospital’s emergency department, with INMO figures revealing that in the first 11 months of the year the overcrowding level at the hospital increased by 162%. This is despite the trolley figures nationally showing a 1% improvement.
Throughout the country, in that period of time, 85,731 people were admitted for in-patient care but were left on trolleys as no beds were available.
When the figures for November are considered, it reveals that the problem at South Tipp General got even worse, with the overcrowding rate increasing by 252%
Commenting, the INMO described the overall figures as disappointing, but put some of the deterioration in November down to the need to close 180 beds across the country for infection control reasons.
Despite this, however, the INMO notes that the spread of infection can be seen as a direct consequence of the daily overcrowding taking place in the wards of many hospitals across the health service.
The figures will be presented to the Emergency Department Taskforce when it meets on Monday afternoon.
