NURSES close to burn-out gave hospital managers one week last night to solve a beds crisis in a new €30 million accident and emergency unit.

NURSES preparing for a winter of discontent say they won’t allow their colleagues and the patients they care for to wait two further years before the A&E crisis is addressed.

CRITICALLY ill patients are not being seen for up to four hours in some of the country’s busiest casualty departments, latest waiting time figures show.

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney threw down the gauntlet to nurses as she warned them they would have to accept extra beds being put in wards if the overcrowding crisis at A&E was to be tackled.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney was yesterday accused of presiding over “absolute bedlam” as nurses protested around the country over the A&E crisis and the soaring number of patients on trolleys.

THE A&E crisis at Cork University Hospital continues to deepen, according to figures which show a near 38% increase in the number of people being treated on trolleys last month compared to February.

Evelyn Ring

SPENDING on health will be substantially increased next year, Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney told a meeting of accident and emergency nurses yesterday.

PATIENTS in hospitals find A&E units to be disastrous, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern acknowledged yesterday.