University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has set the record for the highest number of patients waiting for a hospital bed, with 150 people on trolleys there on Wednesday morning.
According to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) UHL's latest tally is the highest number left waiting at a hospital since the trolley watch began in 2006.
Of the 150 people waiting for beds at UHL, 65 were in the Emergency Department (ED), and 85 were in wards elsewhere in the hospital.
Nationally, there were 710 patients waiting for a bed at hospitals around the country on Wednesday morning.
"We have seen overcrowding records broken three times in the space of two weeks in University Hospital Limerick, today being a new high with over 150 people admitted to the hospital without a bed," INMO assistant director of industrial relations for the Midwest and Western regions, Mary Fogarty said.
"Since the beginning of January, over 2,573 patients have been admitted to UHL without a bed.
"These patients, no matter what their condition is, are placed on trolleys in all available spaces, on public corridors of the hospital, on ward corridors and in the Emergency Department, leading to a completely congested hospital with no patient movement to access an in-patient bed."
Ms Fogarty said the levels of "persistent overcrowding" are damaging moral among the nursing staff, "who are trying their best to provide safe patient care in an extremely trying environment".
"INMO members have repeatedly highlighted the conditions as unacceptable and dangerous for patients.
"When overcrowding is out of control, it is simply impossible to maintain patient safety and dignity," she added.
The INMO has once again called on the HSE and UL Hospitals Group to take immediate targeted measures to ease overcrowding at UHL.
Following UHL, Cork University Hospital was the second most overcrowded hospital in the State, with 60 patients waiting for beds there, followed by University Hospital Galway, where 52 patients were waiting on trolleys.
