Galway Bay fm newsroom – All non-urgent surgeries have been cancelled at UHG today as staff at the hospital struggle to deal with overcrowding.
The move comes on a day when nationally the number of patients waiting for hospital beds is up almost 100 on yesterday’s figure.
533 patients are waiting on trolleys or in wards, up from 437.
The worst affected hospitals today are St Vincent’s and Beaumont in Dublin with 45 and 43 respectively.
In a statement to FYI Galway, UHG management says the emergency department is extremely busy with significant numbers of patients awaiting admission.
The Full Capacity Protocol has been put in place for the second time in just five days and management says all efforts are being made to identify patients who are suitable for discharge.
Non-urgent elective procedures have been deferred, and affected patients have been contacted.
Patients are advised to attend the emergency department at UHG only in a genuine emergency, and to attend their GP or GP Out-of-Hours service in the first instance.
According to the INMO’s trolley watch University Hospital Galway has 36 patients on trolleys.