With weeks to run to peak flu season, hospitals are in the grip of a system-wide crisis as the nation’s emergency departments (ED) plunge deeper into chaos.

Phil Ní Sheaghdha has said it should not take a personal visit to the emergency department for the political system to know that citizens should not be subjected to lengthy waiting times.

Three Munster-based acute public hospitals were worst affected by overcrowding in May, it has emerged.

Nurses were the most assaulted group of workers in HSE hospitals last year, accounting for three in five of all recorded incidents.