HSE boss hopes for 440 additional beds this winter

HSE chief Tony O’Brien, who has just taken over the emergency department taskforce, says he hopes to have 440 additional acute hospital beds open over the winter to ease overcrowding.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, warned yesterday it would ballot members in hospital emergency departments next month if critical issues were not addressed.

According to the INMO’s trolley watch yesterday 434 patients were waiting on trolleys for beds in hospitals across Ireland.