The number of patients on trolleys in Dublin hospitals in the first two weeks of December was almost double that during the same period in 2006, it was claimed today.

HOSPITALS will forfeit a slice of their annual funding for failing to tackle the A&E crisis and to maintain acceptable hygiene standards, it was learned yesterday.

NEW admission lounges for patients waiting for a hospital bed will not see the light of day unless additional in-patient nurses are appointed, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) warned yesterday.