HOSPITALS guilty of bad management and delaying the discharge of patients have been hit with fines totalling €4.4 million.

NURSES' representatives have warned that patients' lives are at risk because of the massive overcrowding that crippled A&E units in Dublin yesterday.

PUBLIC health doctors will continue to picket outside many of the country’s acute hospitals for as long as is necessary, a spokesman said last night.

HUNDREDS of nurses are threatening strike action following a decision by management to close beds and cut nursing posts at a Dublin hospital.

NURSES at hospitals around the country have threatened to go on strike in a dispute over on-call pay rates and staffing levels.

HOSPITALS found guilty of bad management and keeping patients in beds too long have been hit with fines totalling €6.4 million.

ALMOST 2,500 bed days per month were denied to patients awaiting treatment at Dublin’s Mater Hospital last year because of difficulties discharging patients.