The number of patients on trolleys in greater Dublin almost doubled last month, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) has said.
Figures compiled by the INO has seen a rise of 89 per cent in the number of patients on trolleys in hospitals in a three-week period in December compared to the same period in 2006.
It estimates that between December 1st and December 20th there were 1,855 patients on trolleys in hospitals in the greater Dublin area compared to 983 in the same period in 2006.
The figures also show there were 365 patients on trolleys yesterday morning, a rise of 67 on the previous day.
Similar concerns about a deterioration in accident and emergency services were expressed by the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine last week when it said that improvements brought into the system in 2006 have not been maintained.
The HSE said in a statement last night that the highly contagious winter vomiting bug (norovirus) was having an impact on a number of hospitals in the Dublin region, particularly Beaumont and Tallaght.
A HSE spokesman said the establishment of a winter initiative in 2006 had seen the average daily number of patients waiting on trolleys drop by almost half from 178 in 2005 to 92 last year.
These improvements were steadfastly maintained throughout 2007, the spokesman added, and the HSE remained "absolutely committed" to continuing to reduce waiting times in hospitals.
INO general secretary Liam Doran said the rise in trolley numbers was "entirely predictable" given HSE cutbacks and curtailments on recruiting in the last quarter of the year.
The INO said the cutbacks resulted in an effective freeze on the provision of homecare packages which would allow patients to be discharged from acute beds, along with similar restrictions on nursing home subventions.
It also said that short-term cutbacks had been accentuated by inadequate acute bed capacity, especially in greater Dublin, the continuing shortage of long-term high-dependency continuing care beds and the traditional spike in demand for A&E services during the winter months.
Mr Doran added: "It would now appear that the focus of senior management has moved elsewhere and effectively A&E overcrowding is no longer receiving the hour-by-hour priority it requires.
"The winter months are always a busy time for A&E, but there is no doubt that the effects of cuts to home-help packages and discharges to community beds are now coming home to roost."
However, the figures also reveal that the situation outside Dublin continues to improve.
There was 1,316 patients on trolleys in hospitals outside Dublin during the same three-week period, a drop of 9 per cent on 2006.
The HSE said that resolving the A&E crisis was its most important priority when it was set up in 2005.
In 2006 the winter initiative saw the number of patients on trolleys reduce by almost 40 per cent, though many of those reductions would now appear to have been wiped out, according to the INO figures.
The INO said it would now be seeking an immediate meeting of the A&E forum, involving the HSE and all health-sector unions, in order to agree a further set of emergency measures to deal with the issues involved.
