Overcrowding in the accident and emergency departments of several Dublin hospitals has again prompted the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) to urge the public not to visit casualty unless absolutely necessary.
The Irish Nurses' Organisation is due to meet the ERHA next week in an effort to address the difficulties, which are particularly acute in hospitals on the city's north side. These include the Mater and Beaumont Hospitals as well as James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown.
Last night Mr John Lamont, chief executive of Beaumont, confirmed that more than 20 patients on trolleys were waiting for beds in the A&E department. In the Mater there were about 15 patients on trolleys, but the situation there had often been worse.
Mr Lamont said the hospital's A&E unit was always very busy at this time of year, and the difficulties could not be attributed to beds having been closed for financial reasons.
There were now no beds in the hospital closed for this reason, he said.
Supporting the ERHA's call to the public, the Irish Nurses' Organisation deputy general secretary, Mr Dave Hughes, claimed the situation was almost at breaking point because of bed closures and an acute shortage of nurses.
He said that having more than 20 patients on trolleys in Beaumont at 6.30 p.m. on a Friday before what was bound to be a busy weekend coming up to Christmas was chronic.
However, Mr Lamont said he hoped beds would be found for these patients within the next 12 to 24 hours.
"The central issue at this point is what measures can be taken to meet head-on the increased demand at this time of year in the context of Government cutbacks which have closed beds and a policy which has now produced a return of nurse shortages," Mr Hughes said.
"The INO will be seeking a radical and imaginative response to ease the current crisis, which is negatively affecting patient care and creating intolerable workloads and stress upon nursing and other frontline staff," he added.