52 people are waiting for a bed in two Cork hospitals today.
Trolley Watch figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show there are 27 people including a patient under the age of 16 without a bed at the Mercy University Hospital.
While there are 25 people on trolleys at Cork University Hospital.
Overall there were 688 people without a bed at CUH in October- a large decrease compared to September when CUH was the most overcrowded hospital in the country with 1,094 people on trolleys.
Speaking to RedFM News, Liam Conway from the INMO says the curtailment of some services at the hospital has helped to reduce the amount of overcrowding:
"Obviously the rise of Covid-19 probably has people potentially afraid of attending the emergency departments, due to the overcrowding as well. But we're kind of back at levels pre-Covid, we look back and 2017/2018. The figures produced in October 2021 are higher compared to 2017, 2018 and 2019. so the figures are pretty significant. And as you know, Covid is on the rise again. So this is causing serious concern and health and safety issues for members in CUH and other hospitals across the country."
