14/07/2026
Quinlivan Calls For Action As UHL Trolley Numbers Remain High
Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan has called on the Government to take immediate action to address overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), following the latest figures showing 111 patients were being treated on trolleys at the hospital.
The Limerick TD said the continued level of overcrowding was unacceptable despite the opening of a new bed unit last year, arguing that the failure to reduce trolley numbers was failing both patients and frontline staff.
Referring to the latest figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), Deputy Quinlivan said UHL has recorded 12,298 patients treated on trolleys so far this year and remained the country's most overcrowded hospital.
"Despite last year's opening of a new bed unit at the hospital, the number of people being treated on trolleys remains unsafe and extremely high. Today, 111 people are being treated at UHL on trolleys and in hospital corridors.
"Already this year, 12,298 people have been treated on trolleys at UHL, according to the INMO figures. In the month of June, more than twice as many people were left waiting on trolleys at UHL than in the country’s next most overcrowded hospital.
"These figures show that the issues of capacity remain unresolved at UHL. The Minister for Health must take direct action to address this challenge, we need to see an expediting of the implementation of the HIQA report recommendations on emergency care in the Mid-West and the swift opening of Surgical Hub at the old Scoil Carmel school site.
"There are two government TDs in Limerick, and time and time again they fail to raise the issue of UHL with their government colleagues. The people of Limerick deserve much better than this.
"Sinn Féin has outlined our approach to addressing this perpetual crisis and we will continue to raise this issue at all levels until this issue is addressed by the government parties. People in Limerick, and the wider Mid-West, deserve better than habitually being treated on trolleys while people in other Irish hospitals can be assured of a hospital bed and the dignity and privacy that accompanies it. The decades of underinvestment in our region must end.
"The treatment on hospital trolleys and in hospital corridors does not just impact the patients, it impacts the medical staff. The staff already do an incredibly difficult job, and it is unacceptable that they must treat people in what are regularly appalling conditions.
"UHL has the highest number of people being treated in corridors and on hospital trolleys, it is treatment without privacy. Immediate intervention is needed."
The Limerick TD said the continued level of overcrowding was unacceptable despite the opening of a new bed unit last year, arguing that the failure to reduce trolley numbers was failing both patients and frontline staff.
Referring to the latest figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), Deputy Quinlivan said UHL has recorded 12,298 patients treated on trolleys so far this year and remained the country's most overcrowded hospital.
"Despite last year's opening of a new bed unit at the hospital, the number of people being treated on trolleys remains unsafe and extremely high. Today, 111 people are being treated at UHL on trolleys and in hospital corridors.
"Already this year, 12,298 people have been treated on trolleys at UHL, according to the INMO figures. In the month of June, more than twice as many people were left waiting on trolleys at UHL than in the country’s next most overcrowded hospital.
"There are two government TDs in Limerick, and time and time again they fail to raise the issue of UHL with their government colleagues. The people of Limerick deserve much better than this.
"Sinn Féin has outlined our approach to addressing this perpetual crisis and we will continue to raise this issue at all levels until this issue is addressed by the government parties. People in Limerick, and the wider Mid-West, deserve better than habitually being treated on trolleys while people in other Irish hospitals can be assured of a hospital bed and the dignity and privacy that accompanies it. The decades of underinvestment in our region must end.
"The treatment on hospital trolleys and in hospital corridors does not just impact the patients, it impacts the medical staff. The staff already do an incredibly difficult job, and it is unacceptable that they must treat people in what are regularly appalling conditions.
"UHL has the highest number of people being treated in corridors and on hospital trolleys, it is treatment without privacy. Immediate intervention is needed."
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The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been told to "stop using Brexit as an excuse" to tackling Ireland's ongoing trolley crisis. Making the call, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said that according to INMO figures, 610 people are waiting on hospital trolleys across the state. She said: "We need solutions, not excuses, to tackle the trolley crisis.
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