Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda saw drop in overcrowding in 2018

2,233 patients went without a hospital bed in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda in 2018, according to analysis released today by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation(INMO).

While this is a high number, it is a 20% decrease on 2017, when Our Lady of Lourdes had 2,791 patients on hospital trolleys.

This bucks the national trend where the 108,227 patients went without a hospital bed in hospitals across the country - a 9% increase on 2017.

To establish the number of patients on hospital trolleys in Ireland, every morning at 8am, INMO members count how many patients are waiting in the Emergency Department for a bed and how many are waiting in wards elsewhere in the hospital.

The INMO Trolley Watch counts the number of patients who have been admitted to acute hospitals, but who are waiting for a free bed.

According to the INMO, these patients are often being treated on trolleys in corridors, but they may also be on chairs, in waiting rooms, or simply wherever there’s space.

The INMO also says figures they report differ from the HSE, primarily because the INMO counts patients throughout the hospital, where as the HSE only counts those in emergency departments (A&E).