Budget appeal: Overcrowding in hospital accident and emergency units across the State yesterday was described as at crisis level by the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO).
The union urged the Government to allocate "emergency funding" in tomorrow's Budget to immediately address "this national crisis" .
It claimed 347 patients were on trolleys in A&E units early yesterday. In one hospital alone - Tallaght Hospital in Dublin - it said there were 59 patients on trolleys, the equivalent of several wards of patients being looked after on corridors and in the emergency department.
Wexford General Hospital's A&E unit was also overrun with patients. There were some 26 patients on trolleys at this hospital, the INO said.
Against this background the INO called for urgent action to address the problem in the Budget.
Some €70 million was set aside for tackling the problem in last year's Budget. This was to finance the Minister for Health Mary Harney's 10 point A&E plan.
Ms Harney has claimed progress is being made on solving the A&E crisis but the INO disagree. Only last Friday Ms Harney told reporters in Dublin that "enormous progress" was being made on the A&E issue.
Among the areas where she claimed progress was being made was in discharging long-stay patients from acute hospitals to more suitable accommodation, thus freeing up beds for other patients.
Work was also progressing on providing better out-of-hours GP cover, she said.
But INO general secretary Liam Doran said yesterday that A&E overcrowding was continuing at an intolerable level.
"In the context of the healthy state of the Government's finances in the run up to the Budget, ie a €1.3 billion surplus rather than the expected deficit, there is no excuse for not allocating emergency funding to address A&E overcrowding.
"This funding can be used to open available beds and to establish minor injury clinics in other health facilities in major urban areas," he said.
"The INO recognises that there are many issues requiring additional funding, at this time, including childcare, but the country now has the resources to alleviate the unacceptable situation that continues in A&E departments. What is now required is political will," he added.