Fears busy bank holiday weekend will add to hospital overcrowding crisis

Patients attending hospitals in Munster are particularly likely to face delays, with 101 people on trolleys on Thursday at University Hospital Limerick, 66 in Cork University Hospital, and 21 at the Mercy University Hospital.

Hospitals have been asked to use private nursing home beds where possible to make beds available for emergency patients as concern grows about another busy bank holiday weekend.

For much of this week there were more than 600 patients on trolleys or chairs in hospitals around the country waiting for a bed. On Thursday, this number dipped slightly to 553 patients as emergency measures were out in place.