320 patients waiting on trolleys in A&E units today

Three hundred and twenty patients were waiting on trolleys in accident and emergency departments throughout Ireland this morning, according to the Irish Nurses Organisation.

The INO said the worst affected hospitals were those in the Tallaght and Beaumont areas of Dublin, where 51 and 45 patients respectively were waiting for admission in A&E units.

Nurses are engaged in a series of half-hour lunchtime protests throughout the country to highlight their growing anger at the A&E overcrowding and whatt hey say is the Government's failure to address the matter.

The protests, which began yesterday, are due to take place every Tuesday and Thursday between now and the end of the month at selected hospitals nationwide.