The number of people waiting on trolleys in hospitals has dropped to half of levels two weeks ago, at the start of the period which saw major overcrowding in emergency departments, latest figures from the Health Service Executive (HSE) show.
There were 221 patients recorded as waiting on trolleys at 8am on Sunday, according to the HSE’s internal TrolleyGAR count.
This is a 50 per cent drop when compared to the numbers waiting on trolleys on the same day two weeks previous at the start of January.
The HSE has asked senior staff and consultants to work more hours over weekends in hospitals in order to allow the discharge of more patients and free up beds.
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Numbers waiting on trolleys in emergency departments hit a peak of 772 on January 3rd, but dropped to around 350 in the second half of last week.
A separate Trolleywatch count run by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which also includes people waiting on wards, hit a record high of 931 on January 3rd.
Hospitals across the country have come under major pressure over the last two weeks, as staff struggled to cope with high levels of patients with flu, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Speaking in recent days, Dr Colm Henry, HSE chief clinical officer, said it would likely be a week before health officials could say for sure whether the current surge of flu cases had peaked. Initial signs show cases of Covid-19 and RSV had begun to level off, he added.
HSE figures showed there were 314 patients on trolleys on Friday, which dropped to 219 on Saturday.
Numbers waiting in emergency departments often drop over the weekend, with the start of the week traditionally the busiest period.
There were 397 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals as of 8pm on Saturday, although health officials have said many of those were in hospital for other reasons.
Of the 211 patients waiting on trolleys on Sunday, 119 were recorded as waiting for more than nine hours.
Tallaght University Hospital had the most patients waiting on trolleys on Sunday with 24 waiting for a bed.
University Hospital Limerick, which saw some of the highest levels of overcrowding in its emergency department earlier this month, only recorded one patient waiting on a trolley.
HSE officials have said emergency measures, such as asking senior staff to work extra shifts over the weekends and for GP clinics to open later during weekdays, cannot remain in place indefinitely.
Health officials have warned that even if the current flu season has reached its peak, there will be a period of several weeks where cases continue to put pressure on hospitals.
