Six hundred and twenty-six patients are waiting for a bed in Irish hospitals today, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
The union has called for senior decision-makers within hospital groups and the HSE to remove "all barriers" to providing safe care.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: “The worrying but predictable rise in the number of patients who have been admitted to hospital without a bed needs immediate de-escalation action. We are seeing high numbers of patients on trolleys in some of our smaller hospitals which is very high risk for patients in these areas.
“As we reach the peak of RSV, Covid and influenza infections this week and next, senior decision-makers within the HSE and individual hospital groups must introduce immediate de-escalation measures in some of the worst affected areas.
“Oppressive overcrowding is not just confined to one or two hospitals, we are seeing overcrowding challenges in each part of the country, with this predicted to get worse as the week goes on."
Ms Ni Sheaghdha added: “Our members want to be able to provide safe care to patients but also be assured that their own health and wellbeing is being protected - neither are guaranteed when they are working in overcrowded conditions where respiratory infections are rife.
“The HSE and other public sector healthcare employers must assure nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers and indeed the public at large that they are taking extraordinary action to ensure that all barriers to providing safe care at this time are removed.”
