Latest figures from the INMO showl just over 10 thousand patients, including 297 children, were admitted to hospital without a bed last month.
Yesterday there were over 700 patients left on trolleys.
Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s gather in Killarney today for the union's Annual Delegate Conference.
General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha says there is a chronic staffing crisis which needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
'I think the main issue for our delegates will be staffing and the supports they have in their workplaces or as the case has it, not sufficient support so without additional staff you're not going to be able to open more beds, so it all boils down to the same issue, so we must have additional beds, we have to increase the capacity and to do that we need to get more staff.'
