People are urged not to go to Emergency Departments unless urgent

The HSE has said emergency departments are 'exceptionally busy' in recent days, with up to 21% more patients attending.

In a statement, the Health Service has said there's been a 10% increase in patients nationally, and there were 386 patients on trolleys this morning.

Those presenting with flu like illnesses have quadrupled, and people are being urged not to go to EDs if their needs are not urgent.

This nurse from a Dublin Hospital has said working conditions are incredibly tough at the moment: “You are leaving a 50-year-old person and a 80-year-old person sitting on a chair, who has been admitted and is waiting for a bed upstairs.

“You know coming back the next day that that person is going to be sitting on the same chair, in the same place, not having a nights rest, not even being able to change their clothes.

“The small things that we take for granted, you just can’t do them in a busy Emergency Department at the minute.”