A patient in the north-west who doctors suspect may have cancer has had an operation to determine his prognosis cancelled four times in recent months.
The patient, who is still awaiting "urgent" surgery, was ready to travel to a Dublin hospital on each of the four occasions when he got a call to say there was no bed vacant for him.
The man's plight was brought to the attention of the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, yesterday when he met representatives of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA).
The meeting had been arranged to discuss, among other things, the shortage of hospital beds and the fact that many acute hospital beds are taken up by patients who are ready for discharge but have no step-down care to go to.
Up to 20 per cent of beds in Dublin hospitals are occupied by these so-called "bed blockers", the IHCA's president, Dr Colm Quigley, said.
Mr Martin was told about another patient who was fit for discharge from a Dublin hospital after seven days but spent a further 240 days there because there was nowhere for him to go.
"It is indefensible that up to 600 beds, and in some instances many more, can be occupied by patients who could be properly looked after in nursing homes or similar facilities," Dr Quigley said.
He blames health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) for not contracting rehabilitation and nursing home beds for these long-stay patients.
Meanwhile, he said consultants were coming under unbearable pressure to discharge other patients early to make room for new admissions from A&E departments.
"We emphasised to the Minister that health boards, and particularly the Eastern Regional Health Authority, have failed again this year to anticipate the increase in admissions over the winter months, and to make provision for same by ensuring that those patients who could be adequately looked after in nursing homes were transferred from hospital," he said.
The IHCA says it costs up to €6,000 a week to keep a patient in an acute hospital bed while a nursing home bed would cost just a fraction of that.
A spokeswoman for Mr Martin said he realised there were difficulties but work was ongoing between health agencies with a view to improving bed management protocols.
A spokeswoman for the ERHA rejected any blame for "bed blocking". She said €50 million would be given to the three area health boards in its region this year to buy care in private nursing homes. However, nursing home care was not suitable for all patients.