Kilkenny hospital records second consecutive day without trolley patients

The figures are a welcome improvement following a prolonged period of overcrowding

Published 8th Mar 2026, 15:00 BST St Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny The figures are a welcome improvement following a prolonged period of overcrowding Sign up to our Kilkenny Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Kilkenny Live within your account.

No patients were being treated outside a bed at St Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny on Friday, the second day in a row without any trolley use after weeks of strained capacity at the facility.

Over 400 patients were treated on trolleys last month, the highest February figure since 2022 and more than three times last year’s numbers.

The hospital has been under the spotlight during a difficult few weeks where visiting restrictions have had to be introduced to combat the spread of norovirus while politicians including the Taoiseach pledged to look into shortcomings in staffing and oncology care.

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The reduction in trolley figures will come as a relief to staff at the hospital after the winter flu surge which saw facilities nationwide under pressure with the number of patients treated outside beds rising as high as 34 at St Luke’s on February 4.

A proposed ward block development, the Dolmen Wing, is planned to replace the old medical one and two units and would be made up of 86 beds.

Kilkenny Senator Malcolm Noonan called the development “a vital project that needs to be proceeded with.”

Related topics: St Luke’s General Hospital Health Malcolm Noonan Kilkenny Sign up to our Kilkenny Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Kilkenny Live within your account.