There was a 46% increase in the number of patients waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Waterford in 2019.
That's according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
They counted 6,319 patients waiting for a bed during the year - the highest figure ever and a jump of 1,994 since 2018.
It's also 14% higher than the previous peak of 5,525 in 2017.
Nationally 118,367 were on trolleys in 2019, 9% more than in 2018. University Hospital Limerick was the worst affected with almost 14,000.
The worst-hit hospitals in 2019 included:
- University Hospital Limerick - 13,941
- Cork University Hospital – 11,066
- University Hospital Galway – 7,993
- South Tipperary General Hospital – 6,942
- University Hospital Waterford – 6,313
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
"Things are getting worse, not better. These figures should be falling, but we're going the wrong direction. 2019 saw thousands more patients without proper beds - often at one of the most vulnerable points in their lives.
"Overcrowding used to be a winter problem. Now it's an all-year problem, which gets worse in winter.
"The most frustrating part is that we know how to solve this problem: increase staffing and bed capacity, expand community care, and get going with the Sláintecare reforms.
"Instead, the HSE continues to enforce its rigid recruitment controls, starving hospitals and community services of the staff they need. Our members are rightly appalled by the conditions they are forced to work and care for patients in.
"2020 should be a year where understaffing and overcrowding are brought under control, but that simply won't happen without investment and an end to the recruitment ban."
