Overcrowding eased at Kildare's main hospital last month

Patient overcrowding at Naas Hospital fell last month when compared with the same period in 2025.

A total of 296 people were admitted to the hospital through the accident and emergency department in March while the figure for March 2025 was 404 and it was 352 for March 2024 and 387 for March 2023.

The lowest figure recorded for March was 30 and this was in 2020 at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.

The highest ever figure for that month, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, was 504 (in 2018).

The INMO said some 11,130 people were admitted to public hospitals without a bed being available across the country.

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And the most overcrowded facility was University Hospital Limerick with 1,701 patients, followed by Cork University Hospital (939); Sligo University Hospital (924); St Vincent’s University Hospital (870) and University Hospital Galway (862).

INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said this was the third consecutive month that “we have seen over 10,000 people on trolleys in our hospitals, and (nurses) are now concerned that this will become the new normal.”

Ms Ni Sheaghdha said current trolley trends predict how the system will cope come autumn and winter. 

“Every year that we see higher overcrowding numbers, it means the bar for safety in our hospitals is being lowered. (Nurses) are the ones who have to bridge the gap between the patients’ needs and the lack of resources.  

“This is deeply unfair to patients, and the physical and psychological effects on these workers are enormous.  These are not acceptable standards in healthcare or in working conditions, and it is vital that any shortfalls in staffing and resources are addressed so that this situation does not continue or worsen over the coming months.”