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\n Published:
\n Mon 18 May 2026, 2:00 PM\n <\/p>\n
Thirty-six sick people are lying on trolleys in Mayo University Hospital today and, according to local Councillor Harry Barrett, the situation has gone beyond a crisis and become ‘a complete national disgrace’.<\/p>\n
Councillor Barrett said families across Mayo are now living in fear every time a loved one becomes ill, because they know there is a real chance they could end up waiting for hours or even days on a trolley in overcrowded conditions in Castlebar.<\/p>\n
He hit out: \u201cThe Minister for Health cannot keep pretending this is normal. It is not normal for elderly people, vulnerable patients and sick children to be left waiting on trolleys in corridors like this. It is cruel, it is dangerous and it is deeply unfair on the people of Mayo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The latest trolley figures show Mayo University Hospital once again among the worst affected hospitals in the country, with 36 patients without a proper bed today.<\/p>\n
Councillor Barrett said staff in the hospital are doing everything they can under impossible conditions, but warned that frontline workers are being pushed to breaking point.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur nurses, doctors, paramedics and healthcare staff are working flat out. They are not the problem.<\/p>\n
“The problem is a government that has failed to properly plan, failed to properly invest and failed to get control of overcrowding despite years of warnings.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said people in Mayo are fed up hearing excuses while the trolley numbers continue to rise month after month across the country.<\/p>\n
Recent INMO figures showed more than 11,000 patients were treated without a bed nationally during March alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has become the new normal under this government and that should frighten every single person in this county. People are paying taxes all their lives and yet when they need care most, they are left on a trolley in a corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councillor Barrett called on the Minister for Health to immediately intervene and deliver additional beds, staffing supports and emergency capacity measures for Mayo University Hospital before conditions deteriorate further.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Mayo deserve dignity when they are sick. Right now they are not getting it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\n Published:
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