The controversy surrounding nursing home charges has been blamed by Minister for Health Mary Harney for some of the delay in sorting out the A&E crisis.
She said yesterday the nursing home charges fiasco had made it more difficult for hospitals to encourage people to leave acute beds and move to nursing homes.
"I had hoped to see more results in March," Ms Harney said of her €70 million, 10-point plan to improve conditions in A&E, "but unfortunately, because of the controversy surrounding charges, it has been more difficult for hospitals to encourage people into more appropriate settings like nursing homes, for example."
There were 235 patients on trolleys in A&E units across the State again yesterday, according to the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO), which today will continue lunchtime protests outside two more hospitals - St Vincent's in Dublin and Limerick Regional Hospital - to highlight overcrowding in A&E units.
Meanwhile, it is understood that the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), which this week publishes its finding on inspections of a number of A&E units, will make recommendations about steps which should be taken by hospitals to prevent violent attacks on A&E staff.
The authority, in the course of its inspections, had to alert fire officers to instances where A&E units were so overcrowded exits were blocked by trolleys and equipment.
Meanwhile an inspection of St Bricin's military hospital in Dublin, which has up to 100 idle beds, took place yesterday at the behest of Ms Harney. This was to establish if it would be suitable for an overflow of patients from other hospitals.
After Defence Minister Willie O'Dea announced the hospital would be made available, Ms Harney told reporters at a conference on patient rights at the Royal College of Surgeons that she had approached Mr O'Dea about it a few weeks ago after she had discussions with the Army deputy chief-of-staff.
"This was looked at before, and it was found to be unsuitable. And I asked for another review to be done to see was the facility suitable for regular patients, and in fact this very day an inspection is being carried out at my request to see if the facility can be adaptable for the use of patients.
"Because if there are any facilities in this city or county - there are 30 beds available at Peamount Hospital in Dublin at the moment - I want to see any vacant bed, not only in this city but around the country, used in the interests of patients, and certainly that has been the approach that we have been following, and Minister O'Dea was very positive in his response."
However, Labour's health spokeswoman Liz McManus said a shortage of nurses may hamper efforts to open St Bricin's.
Barry Roche adds: Cork University Hospital's (CUH) new €11 million emergency department opened yesterday after hospital management and the INO reached agreement on staffing. The INO had threatened this month not to co-operate with the opening.
CUH's consultant in emergency medicine Dr Stephen Cusack said the facility was the only level one-type trauma unit in the Republic through its provision of back-up specialist services such as neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, orthopaedics and plastic surgery.