31 people are on trolleys at South Tipperary General Hospital on a day when the number of people waiting for beds at hospitals across the country is at a record level.
According to today’s trolley watch figures by the INMO 612 people are on trolleys nationally.
Commenting, the INMO described the figures as ‘entirely predictable’ and as having ‘arisen from the trend running right through November/December, which saw a significant deterioration in the daily trolley watch figures compared to previous years’.
The organisation also said that today’s record figure of 612 must be compared to the figure of 495 in March 2006, when the situation was declared a ‘national emergency’.
The INMO has asked what measures were taken, over the past 8 weeks to alleviate the situation and, in particular, to plan for ‘the predictable surge that occurs in the early days of every new year’.
