Rise in Mayo University Hospital’s ‘Trolley Watch’ stats

Mayo University Hospital has once more seen a significant rise in the latest round of figures from the INMO’s ‘Trolley Watch’.

Last week, the number of patients who were awaiting care on trollies in the Emergency Department was as low as seven on May 7. Today,  one week on, those numbers have risen, with twelve people on trollies.

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There is some room for optimism, however, as the figures regarding those who are waiting on trollies elsewhere in the Castlebar facility have stayed stable.

Last Wednesday, the figure stood at 16. This Wednesday, it remains at 16.

The hospital has also jumped up in the table for the highest number of patients on trollies from seventh to fifth, sandwiched between Cork University Hospital (37) and Tallaght University Hospital (26) on 28.

Yesterday, Mayo Aontú TD Paul Lawless moved to slam the fact that wait times in the Emergency Department average at over six hours.

“A key question for the HSE to answer is how many people have died because they were left waiting too long before being seen in an emergency department,” Deputy Lawless stated.

During last week’s INMO  Annual Delegate Conference in Wexford, the issue of overcrowding was also brought up by the organisation’s president, Caroline Gourley.

“Working short and overcrowding workplaces are the ingredients that add to the dangerous environment we are now witnessing daily,” she stated in an address to the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll-MacNeill.