Cork University Hospital had the second-highest number of admitted patients waiting for a bed last month, at 1,031

The hospital is consistently the most overcrowded in the country, however management say they do not have enough bed capacity to deal with their catchment of around 400,000.

There are 426 patients waiting for a bed in hospitals around Ireland, with University Hospital Limerick the worst hit.

PLANS for a 120-bed replacement in-patient block at St John's Hospital, Limerick - to help tackle long-term patient overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick - are said to be “progressing”.

A 25-hour wait by a 101-year-old Co Clare grandmother on a trolley at the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has been described as "inhumane, deplorable, and disgraceful".

Three very sick babies, one less than a week old, had to be transferred between hospitals in the back of a taxi, the HSE admitted last night.