Over 1,500 patients on trolleys in local hospitals so far this year

Over 1,500 patients have waited for a bed in local hospitals so far this year.

Sligo University Hospital has routinely recorded some of the highest Emergency Department numbers in the country, with 2023 numbers again the highest in the region at 615.

That's followed by Galway University Hospital where 541 people waited for a bed this year.

199 and 163 patients respectively waited at Portiuncula Hospital Ballinasloe and Mullingar Hospital, with just one person on a trolley this year in Tullamore.

Nationally, 72,391 people have gone without a bed in Irish hospitals in 2023.