Trolley numbers: 654 patients waiting for beds, say nurses

There are 654 patients deemed to require admission to hospital waiting on trolleys in emergency departments or on wards on Wednesday, nurses have said.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said University Hospital Limerick was the facility worst affected by overcrowding with 73 people queuing for a bed.

The INMO said there were 59 patients waiting for a bed at Cork University Hospital (CUH) and 49 at University Hospital Galway .

There were 28 children waiting for admission to a bed at the three paediatric hospitals in Dublin including 11 in the emergency department at Temple St University Hospital.

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There has been a surge in the number of people waiting for admission to hospitals over recent weeks.

Earlier this week it emerged that some elective and routine inpatient procedures had been postponed at Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght Hospitals to deal with an increase in the number of young children and infants presenting to emergency departments.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the cancellation of elective procedures in children's hospitals was "largely related" to the number of children with chest infections and the winter vomiting bug.