All elective surgery has been cancelled at Wexford General Hospital due to the lack of beds.
Yesterday 29 admitted patients were on trolleys throughout the hospital, as no beds were vacant.
The hospital manager, Ms Teresa Hanrahan, said: "It is a very difficult situation. The patients who were admitted have been on trolleys in the corridors."
The problem was that the population had increased by 12.5 per cent since 1996 and they had only 10 new beds since the early 1990s, she said.
"We are bursting at the seams," Ms Hanrahan said.
The industrial relations officer of the Irish Nurses' Organisation, Mr Tony Fitzpatrick, said the accident and emergency section could only accommodate four trolleys at a time.
This meant patients had to wait for a hospital bed on the corridors adjoining that department. said Mr Fitzpatrick.
It was not a once-off incident and it was likely to become a common occurrence in the coming weeks and months as the hospital did not have the bed capacity to cater for the population growth and demographic changes in Co Wexford, he said.
"It is vital that additional acute beds are provided to Wexford General to meet the increased demand placed on that hospital.
"However, the Departments of Health and Finance have indicated that no additional funding will be made available for capital investment this year.
"Therefore patients and staff will continue to suffer at the hospital," Mr Fitzpatrick said.
It was time the Government lived up to its responsibilities to the people of Wexford, he said.
The Government must ensure that additional funds are provided for capital expansion and improved resourcing of community care services, Mr Fitzpatrick said.
"Patients and nursing staff now have to endure inhumane conditions at the hospital.
"Members of the INO are endeavouring to provide quality care to their patients, however, the current crisis and conditions at the hospital are not conducive to the delivery of such care," he said.
INO representatives were meeting management in an effort to resolve the situation.