Nearly 200 people lay down outside the Dáil yesterday in protest at what they described as overcrowded and unhygienic conditions in hospital A&E departments.
Janette Byrne, of Patients Together, said the aim of the protest was to "lie down and be counted" by Minister for Health Mary Harney and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Organisers had hoped more than 495 people would protest - the highest number of people recorded on hospital trolleys in one day.
Ms Byrne said people working in hospitals wanted better conditions as much as patients and their families. Everyone must stop being afraid treatment would be affected if they stood against the "fear and indignity" in hospitals.
Ms Byrne was diagnosed with cancer for a second time on Tuesday, and she said she feared going back to hospital. The last time she was treated for cancer patients lit scented candles to cover the smell of sewage in her ward.
Vivian Hamilton, of Clonsilla, Dublin, had the name of her father, Robert Hamilton, written on her shirt. He died in January aged 86 after spending 72 hours on an A&E trolley.
She said she hoped bed shortages and unnecessary indignities people suffered while in hospital would be an issue in the next election. "I think it's only until people experience it that they really understand."
Judi Costello brought her son, Adam, who has an immune deficiency disorder, because of difficulty she has had in trying to get him treatment. Hospital staff "have to be commended for working above and beyond the call of duty", she said, "but the Government needs to step in." Her son once had to wait for a week for an electrocardiogram because there was no paper for the machine.