The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has today (Monday ) renewed its call for the cancellation of all planned elective or routine admissions to the country's acute hospitals for a minimum of two weeks, saying overcrowding in emergency departments has reached an all time high.
The INMO said it counted 34 patients on trolleys in Mayo General Hospital today.
Nationwide, there are 563 patients on trolleys today.
In a statement circulated this afternoon, the INMO said the level of overcrowding has resulted in the compromising of patient care in a number of ways, including eldery, frail patients being left on trolleys with no dignity or privacy and dangerously high workloads on nursing staff.
On Saturday, the HSE West asked the public not to use the Emergency Department at Mayo General Hospital unless absolutely necessary because of an increase in the number of patients waiting for admission and the low number of patients being discharged.
