The number of people waiting for beds at South Tipperary General Hospital has been particularly high today, with 42 people in the A&E unit and in overflow areas.
University Hospital Limerick which also caters for people from Co Tipperary has been under pressure as well, with 45 people waiting for beds there.
However, Cork University Hospital is the most overcrowded, with 47 people waiting to be assigned beds.
Today’s high figures are being reported at a time when members of the INMO have commenced a ballot for industrial action due to the refusal to the HSE to take on extra staff at St Patrick’s in Cashel and St Anthony’s unit in Clonmel.
Speaking to Tipp Mid West today, Mary Fogarty, the INMO’s Industrial Relations Officer said that the problems being experienced at the country’s hospitals today and the reason that nurses are being balloted for industrial action at St Patrick’s and St Anthony’s are the same – the continuous shortage of nursing staff.
