One source said ambulance crews were 'marooned' at University Hospital Limerick as there are not enough trolleys for them to hand over patients.  Picture: Brendan Gleeson

Hospital overcrowding has spiked again across the country, with 81 people stuck on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and nurses running out of corridor space for trolleys in Letterkenny. 

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has flagged “extremely concerning” overcrowding at Letterkenny University Hospital, with no available space for trolleys, and appeals made to nearby nursing homes to help with "overflow patients".

At University Hospital Limerick, 81 patients were left waiting for a bed yesterday, continuing a trend of high levels of overcrowding in the emergency department — 1,498 patients were left on trolleys in February.

At least 15 ambulances were queued up outside the emergency department in Limerick yesterday afternoon due to high levels of overcrowding.

One source said ambulance crews were “marooned” in the hospital, as there were not enough trolleys to hand over their patients to hospital staff: 

The trolley situation is fairly desperate and the waiting area is like Beirut.

One elderly man with cancer spent 54 hours on a trolley in UHL last Monday, when he was admitted for an oncology appointment.

His daughters, Maria and Helena O’Dwyer, told the Irish Examiner that his treatment was "a horror show”.

They added that UHL had a “disjointed system of communication, a skewed definition of risk and the absolute abandonment of any sense of compassion".

The UL Hospitals Group does not comment on individual cases, but a spokesperson said “the group regrets that any admitted patient has to wait a long time for a hospital bed.” 

A statement said the hospital has been experiencing “extraordinarily high levels of demand for emergency care”, and urged the public to “consider all available care options before presenting to the emergency department”.

An INMO spokesperson described the situation in UHL as “dangerous and very unacceptable”, and one that has been well flagged for a long period of time.

Also in the top three most overcrowded hospitals yesterday were Sligo University Hospital, with 53 people on trolleys, and University Hospital Galway with 50 waiting for a bed.

Letterkenny University Hospital was facing particular difficulty yesterday with 48 people are waiting on beds. The INMO has said the level of overcrowding is “extremely concerning”, reporting that they are reaching out to nursing homes to take overflow patients, and that Tuesday saw a queue of ten ambulances waiting to reach the hospital.

Read More'We've had the fire safety officer in': Overcrowding in hospitals is extremely dangerous, says INMO

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