A Kilkenny surgeon claims local hospital overcrowding issues at the moment are because wards are being closed for renovation.
It comes amid the news that 16 patients in St Luke’s were on trolleys this morning. 11 of those waiting for beds were in the emergency department, with five on trolleys in other wards.
Stuart Edwards of Kilkenny’s Aut Even Hospital says that redecorating has been ongoing throughout the pandemic.
He says some of the public hospital wards have sent their patients to private hospitals during renovations;
“Wards were closed down in public hospitals and were being decorated. The reason we have people on trolleys is because those wards were closed” He explained to KCLR Live. “If those wards were open, there wouldn’t be an issue. So there’s a lot of misinformation out there. There were a lot of hospitals redecorating during the pandemic.”