Hospital trolley numbers out of control..
Extra capacity is crucial to deal with Ireland's trolley figures according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
This week 3,123 people were without beds. 548 people were waiting on trolleys yesterday alone with 16 of them being children.
The organisation's general secretary notes "there hasn't been a day in the last two weeks" where numbers dropped below 545.
The overcrowding has been called the "new normal" by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation's.
According to INMO figures, University Hospital Limerick had 79 people waiting for beds yesterday morning which is the worst affected in the entire country.
General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha says the problem won't miraculously disappear without government intervention.
She said: "We're heading into April and we know these figures aren't just going to miraculously disappear without extra capacity and without extra nurses and staff that is desperately needed.
"We need a total rethink about how hospital services are provided. We need to look again at the slow pace of delivery of the slainte care community services.
"They are not being available when people need them."
