As 597 admitted patients waited for a bed in the country's public acute hospitals this morning, Health Minister Simon Harris announced that up to 190 beds will be opened in the coming weeks.

A seriously ill mother who has been in remission from cancer for nine weeks was left in a storage room at a leading hospital for three days because bed shortages meant there was nowhere else to put her.

THE viability of several regional hospitals are threatened by government cutbacks, the SIPTU trade union has warned.