One of the country's main accident and emergency hospitals had to close its doors to all but ambulance admissions yesterday due to overcrowding when staff found that about 30 patients were waiting on trolleys.
Staff at Cork University Hospital made the decision to close the hospital's A&E department to the "walking wounded". Accident and emergency consultant Dr Stephen Cusack told Cork's Red FM radio that there simply was not enough space in the A&E department yesterday morning with all 14 cubicles occupied and a further 16 patients on trolleys in corridors.
"There was nowhere to see new patients and we had to make a decision and the decision was to continue to take ambulances . . . we stopped seeing the 'walking wounded' initially to see if we could sort out the situation," Dr Cusack said.
The hospital later reopened the department for all admissions. The closure comes just a month before a new €16 million A&E unit opens there.
There were 335 patients on trolleys in A&E units across the State yesterday, according to the Irish Nurses Organisation.
One of the worst affected hospitals in the eastern region was Beaumont Hospital in Dublin where there were more than 30 patients on trolleys.
The hospital was so busy it had to go off call for a period, during which ambulances were diverted to Blanchardstown hospital.
All elective surgery at Beaumont was cancelled yesterday and remains cancelled today.