The Minister for Health, Ms Harney, says she is seeking information on the numbers of patients "blocking" beds in four Dublin hospitals before drawing up measures to alleviate the pressure caused by A&E overcrowding.
The Minister said only the Mater Hospital has supplied her with figures to date. It has 77 long-stay patients fit for discharge if other facilities were available for them.
With more than 200 patients having to endure another day on trolleys in A&E units across the State yesterday, private nursing homes pointed out that they had ample numbers of vacant beds that could be used as step-down facilities, which would cost a fraction of hospital beds.
Ms Harney said: "There are vacant beds in the private nursing home sector in the Dublin area. I want to use those beds to make sure that patients who don't require an acute bed which costs up to €5,000 a week are in those more appropriate facilities so that accident and emergency cases can be admitted to hospital quickly."
Speaking to reporters in Dublin, she said one couldn't but be very moved by the traumatic stories relayed by patients and families of patients on trolleys at the Mater and other hospitals in recent days.
"I don't want to see anybody in this country experiencing what those people have experienced over the last couple of days. And I said that even before this week. It is not acceptable, it is not good enough and it is not going to continue."