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.

NURSES at one of the country’s biggest hospitals claim the long-awaited opening of its €12 million accident and emergency unit will do little to reduce the numbers of patients on trollies.

Another overcrowding crisis is developing in Dublin hospitals as the Irish Nurses Organisation warns that some Accident and Emergency Departments are full to capacity, before the weekend begins.

ONE of the country’s largest hospitals was forced to cancel all elective surgery today because of serious overcrowding problems in its accident and emergency department.

Student nurses are to protest outside the North Western Health Board tomorrow afternoon.