Hospital trolleys used to treat over 114,000 patients in Ireland

Mohan Sinha
02 Jan 2026, 16:48 GMT+10

Over 114,000 people in Ireland, including more than 1,248 children, were treated on hospital trolleys because of the paucity of beds in hospitals in 2025
Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) Trolley Watch, which provides a daily running total of patients on trolleys across Ireland's hospitals, offered these statistics
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha that even though there has been a slight decline in the treatment of such patients, the reliance on surge beds, which are not adequately staffed, is a cause of concern

DUBLIN, Ireland: Over 114,000 people in Ireland, including more than 1,248 children, were treated on hospital trolleys because of the paucity of beds in hospitals in 2025.

Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) Trolley Watch, which provides a daily running total of patients on trolleys across Ireland's hospitals, offered these statistics.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said, "Yet another year has passed with an unacceptably high number of patients being treated on trolleys, chairs, and in other inappropriate bed spaces. Nurses, midwives, and other healthcare professionals must not continue to shoulder public anger arising from repeated failures in planning across the health service."

He said that even though there has been a slight decline in the treatment of such patients, the reliance on surge beds, which are not adequately staffed, is a cause of concern.

"The continued use of trolleys and reliance on surge capacity mean that too many nurses are routinely working short-staffed. In many hospitals, unfilled rosters are becoming the norm rather than the exception, creating increasingly unsafe conditions for both nurses and patients in our hospitals," he added.

The INMO said that in March, healthcare unions were "assured" that 6,500 funded posts that are still vacant would be filled.

As of December 31, the top overcrowded hospitals were University Hospital Limerick, with 22,473 patients; University Hospital Galway, with 11,630 patients; Cork University Hospital, with 10,113 patients; Sligo University Hospital, and St Vincent's University Hospital.