Flu season likely to continue until March, HSE warns

HSE Interim CEO Stephen Mulvany during the media briefing at Dr Steevens' Hospital, Dublin, to provide an operational update on health services and the HSE Winter Plan. Picture: Brian Lawless

The HSE has defended its handling of the overcrowding crisis but warned high trolley numbers may return again with emergency measures set to last up to 10 weeks.

Senior management also insisted the re-opening of three small hospitals to some emergency patients is “not a reversal” of a policy which saw these hospitals lose their emergency departments.