A record 612 people are on trolleys at hospitals across the country – which the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says is ‘truly shocking’.

According to the INMO – University Hospital Limerick is the most overcrowded with 46 people in need of a bed.

Last year there were almost 94,000 patients on trolleys – compared to 50,000 in 2007 when the situation was declared a ‘National Emergency’.

INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said: “612 patients, admitted for care, for whom there is no bed, is a truly shocking figure. The compromising of care, not to mention the loss of privacy and dignity, cannot go unchallenged and must be acknowledged and addressed by health management.

We cannot allow this to become just another statistic and it must result in a fundamentally new approach to our health system as overcrowding, as the 2016 figures confirm, continues to grow.

The stark reality is that in 2007, after it was declared a ‘National Emergency’, the number of patients on trolleys was recorded as 50,402. However, in 2016 this has increased by 86% to 93,621. This confirms that successive governments’ approach, to the public health service, have failed to address this problem and it must now become a top priority for a government wide response in 2017.”

Mr Doran concluded: “Our genuine fear is, based upon a number of factors including the incidence of influenza and closed beds due to staff shortages, that, in the coming days, the situation may deteriorate still further.

“An emergency response is now required and this must be forthcoming, from health management, immediately.”