As we start a new month, trolley numbers remain high at hospitals across the region.
The Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation is reporting 511 patients on trolleys nationally today - with 23 patients on trolleys at both Mayo and Sligo University Hospitals, 37 at Galway University Hospital and 27 patients on trolleys at Portiuncla Hospital in Ballinasloe.
Meanwhile, Galway and Sligo University Hospitals were among the five most overcrowded in the country last month.
Figures show there were over 8,600 patients on hospital trolleys nationally during January - an increase of 132% on January of last year.
There were 738 patients on trolleys at UHG last month and 526 at Sligo University Hospital.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha says it's not acceptable that chronic overcrowding is allowed to continue, while Covid is still rampant in many hospitals.
