492 patients are waiting on hospital trolleys and wards this lunchtime, as the overcrowding crisis continues.
Surgeries are being cancelled in hospitals including Cork University Hospital and the Mater, as escalation measures agreed with the nursesÂ’ union are being used to reduce the overcrowding.
The Health Minister says it will take years to resolve the pressure on hospital Emergency Departments.
Juliette Gash reports;
As of three o'clock, the HSE says 243 people remain on trolleys, with 183 of those waiting longer than nine hours.
However the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation counts these numbers differently, as patients are often added to wards where there isn't capacity to fit them, but are not on trolleys per se.
Here are the INMO figures from before lunchtime today;
