Revealed: Two hospitals succeed in having no patients waiting on trolleys for beds this year so far

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will provide a progress report on hospital overcrowding tomorrow. Photo: Collins

Eilish O'Regan

Two hospitals have succeeded in having zero patients on trolleys waiting for a bed in their emergency departments in the first six months of the year amid hopeful signals of a turnaround in the overcrowding crisis.

New figures reveal 7,800 fewer patients were on trolleys in the first half of this year – down 14pc on the same period last year. This is despite 62,000 more patients presenting to emergency departments so far this year.