Nurses say January 2025 was the worst on record for patients on trolleys

270 patients on trolleys in Cavan General last month as nurses nationally say they are "overwhelmed"

Nurses and midwives across Ireland have said that January 2025 was the worst month ever recorded for the numbers of patients on trolleys at hospitals nationwide as staff struggled to cope amid a flu outbreak.

In the midst of a bank holiday weekend, nurses say they are "overwhelmed" and are demanding better organisation and supports from management.

Over 13,972 people have been treated in hospitals without a bed last month, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (IMNO) daily trolley watch figures.

Two hundred and seventy of those were on trolleys in Cavan General Hospital, mostly in the Emergency Department.

The last January to top that figure at the local acute hospital facility was January 2020 when 340 patients found themselves on trolleys in Cavan, the just before the Covid outbreak. Before that again, records go back to January 2012 when 316 patients were reported. The highest January ever recorded since the count began in Cavan was January 2011 when 516 patients were reported on trolleys in Cavan General.

Meanwhile, analysis of ongoing figures from the INMO shows that 1,842 patients were left waiting on trolleys at Cavan General over the course of 2024. That’s an average of five people a day.

The figures have quadrupled over the past decade when 460 patients were reported on trolleys over the course of 2014.

It demonstrates the increasing demand for, and pressure on services, and emphasises the need for the new ED extension, which is in the pipeline.

The latest January 2025 figures were recorded nationally by the INMO after its members issued several warnings throughout the month regarding the consistently high level of overcrowding and the risks associated with flu surges and extreme weather.

Commenting on the numbers, INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:

“So few measures were taken to reduce overcrowding this month despite the very clear risks for injury and illness across the country. The result has been the worst overcrowding we have ever seen.

“Trolleys have been particularly high over the last week. We are now in yet another bank holiday weekend where the system is totally overwhelmed. It is clear that the HSE has not done everything that they possibly can and that their ‘winter plan’ is failing," she said.

Ní Sheaghdha is calling on the HSE to outline exactly how much capacity they have acquired from the private sector and confirm that senior decision-makers are on site in each hospital this weekend.

“Only a few short weeks into this year our members are telling us they are exhausted and demoralised. Seeing yet another staggering record broken tells our members the situation is being permitted to get even worse for them and for their patients.

“Nurses and midwives have voted in favour of industrial action because they know that the current recruitment obstacles and the attitude to staffing that’s behind it absolutely need to change under the new government," she said.

“This has been an extremely dangerous and disappointing start to 2025 for nurses, midwives and patients alike. The new government must be laser focused on safe staffing, increasing bed capacity and fulfilling its basic duties for a viable health service and safe workplaces, before this situation is allowed to get even worse.”