612: A record number of people were on Irish hospital trolleys on Tuesday morning

Scandalous numbers.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, a record 612 people are on trolleys in Irish hospitals on Tuesday morning. It is a record high, beating by some distance the previous high of 495 recorded in 2006. It "is a truly shocking figure," said INMO General Secretary Liam Doran. "The compromising of care, not to mention the loss of privacy and dignity, cannot go unchallenged and must be acknowledged and addressed by health management," he added. The highest number of people of trolleys was in University Hospital Limerick, with 46 people waiting for treatment. There were similarly high numbers in Portlaoise and Tullamore, on 42 and 41 respectively. Kilkenny also recorded 41 people waiting on trolleys, with 40 at University Hospital Galway. A record 93,621 people waited on trolleys in 2016, according to the INMO.