Overcrowding problems continue at Dublin A&E units

The accident and emergency units at the Mater and Beaumont hospitals in Dublin were forced to temporarily refuse patients last night due to ongoing problems with overcrowding.

Both northside units stopped accepting patients for around three hours, with ambulances diverted to hospitals on the southside.

The problem of overcrowding in Dublin’s accident and emergency units has been ongoing for years, despite constant claims by health officials that they are working to resolve the issue.

Patients have often been left on trolleys for hours and, at the weekend, the Mater Hospital was forced to treat people in the back of an ambulance because all the beds and the trolleys in its A&E unit were already taken.

The Irish Nurses Organisation has expressed its frustration at the situation, saying underfunding is the core of the problem.