With 528 patients on trolleys for up to 20 hours awaiting hospital beds, emergency medicine consultants have repeated to HSE chiefs the overcrowding crisis will not be solved without extra doctors, nurses and beds.

Almost 450 people are waiting on a bed at hospitals across the country this lunchtime.

More than 400 people are awaiting a bed at hospitals around the country today, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

There are 419 patients waiting for hospital beds today, according to Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is to start publishing daily figures which will highlight any overcrowding.

A 24-BED surgical ward at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee, closed since mid-January due to a nurse shortage, will partially reopen later this month, it was confirmed yesterday.

The Irish Nurses Organisation has reported record numbers of people waiting for beds in Irish hospitals this morning.