Political pressure was piled on management of University Hospital Galway (UHG) last week as surgeries were postponed due to ongoing overcrowding.

Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill singled out public hospitals in Galway and Cork as slower to implement reforms designed to ease overcrowding.

In an interview with The Irish Examiner, the Minister said Cork and Galway were lagging other major hospitals for implementing change, including to weekend rosters.

HSE CEO Bernard Gloster, speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, said the Minister was correct to criticize hospital management.

It comes as the overcrowding problem at UHG was in the spotlight again this January, and elective surgeries were postponed.

The HSE confirmed the Emergency Department at UHG was “extremely busy” last weekend, with more than 400 people attending and high numbers needing to be admitted for ongoing treatment.

The HSE said that it was using all available ‘surge capacity’ but patients were still being treated on trolleys due to a lack of beds.

It asked the public to consider alternative care options before attending ED, which was prioritising those who are seriously ill or injured.

“All available beds in the hospital are in use. Patients are facing long waiting times to be admitted from the Emergency Department to a bed on a ward. Every effort is being made to discharge patients who are ready to go home so that beds will become available for patients who need to be admitted, at the earliest opportunity.

Due to these ongoing pressures and the lack of bed capacity, the hospital is postponing some elective procedures. Urgent and time-sensitive procedures are being prioritised. Patients are being contacted directly if their procedure is being postponed,” the HSE said.

As revealed in the Connacht Tribune recently, the number of people treated on trolleys at UHG last year was the highest in more than two decades according to INMO stats.