There are more than 500 patients being treated on trolleys at hospitals across the country today.

Patients could face weeks of overcrowding at Cork hospitals unless there is a significant increase in staffing levels, nurses have warned.

Health Minister, Simon Harris, has apologised to patients and their families affected by this week's extreme overcrowding crisis in Ireland's hospitals.

A mother with Crohn’s Disease, and suffering from abscesses on her rectum, was being treated on a chair in the Emergency Department of University Hospital Limerick today where a record 92 patients languished on trolleys in the ED and on wards.

University Hospital Limerick is the worst affected with 60 people awaiting beds.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has described hospital overcrowding as "obscene", as trolley figures emerged showing 679 patients waiting for a bed, the worst so far this year and the second-highest ever recorded.

More than 500 people are waiting for hospital beds around the country this morning.

President of the Irish Hospital Consultant Association, Dr Donal O'Hanlon, warned that the acute hospital system is "at breaking point" because of a severe shortage of consultants, beds and other facilities.

9,439 hospital patients were left waiting for beds over the past month, the highest ever number recorded in July.

Nearly 4,500 patients over the age of 75 waited longer than 24 hours in an emergency department since the start of the year, according to figures obtained by Fianna Fáil spokesperson on health, Stephen Donnelly.

After the worst April for overcrowding since records began, there are over 500 people on trolleys in Irish hospitals today.

There are 532 patients waiting on a bed in hospitals around the country this morning.

There are 501 patients waiting for beds in hospitals around the country this morning, according to today’s INMO Trolley Watch.

There are 587 patients waiting on beds in hospitals, according to figures from the INMO's Trolley Watch.

There are 505 people waiting on trolleys this morning across the country.

There are 606 patients waiting for a bed in hospitals around the country this morning, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

A carer has highlighted the chaotic scenes in the Emergency Department (ED) at Cork University Hospital, describing how a vulnerable person spent more than two days on a trolley.

500 patients are waiting on trolleys in hospitals across the country today.

There are 565 people waiting for hospital beds around the country today, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

Flu has been blamed for a surge in the number of patients on trolleys waiting to be admitted to a hospital bed yesterday.

The INMO's latest report shows 392 of them are waiting in emergency departments.

Sinn Féin has said the trolley crisis in our hospitals will only get worse this year.

More than 108,000 patients went without a hospital bed in 2018 - a 9% increase on the previous year.

Health chiefs are already predicting there will be more than 12,000 sick people languishing on hospital trolleys for want of a bed next month.

University Hospital Limerick is the most overcrowded with 47 people waiting for a bed.