A chaotic weekend at the accident and emergency units of Dublin hospitals was predicted last night by the Irish Nurses' Organisation which claimed dozens of patients were on trolleys waiting for beds.
There were 15 patients awaiting beds in the casualty department of Beaumont Hospital last night, and while exact figures were not available for the numbers awaiting beds in Tallaght, the Mater and St James's, the hospitals admitted they were under pressure.
The INO called on the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA), which funds the hospitals, to immediately allocate extra money to enable them reopen beds closed earlier in the year due to funding difficulties.
The nursing union said it felt the ERHA demonstrated, on a daily basis, that it was wholly unaware of the plight of patients and staff in A&E.
It said there were 30 patients on trolleys in Beaumont early yesterday and a further 28 on trolleys in Tallaght. Following ward rounds the situation eased during the day but there were still several patients on trolleys awaiting beds in both hospitals last night.
At the Mater, difficulties were compounded by the fact that building work is ongoing in a bid to extend its A&E unit.
The health authority said, however, that the hospitals were not in crisis. It said their A&E units were busy but coping.
A spokeswoman said the authority was monitoring the situation and working closely with the hospitals to ensure the situation was managed. Furthermore, she said more than 90 patients, who up to this had been inappropriately accommodated in acute hospital beds because they had nowhere else to go, had in recent days been approved for discharge by the ERHA to accommodation in the community.
Meanwhile, the INO also asserted last night that plans by Peamount Hospital to phase out treatment of TB patients meant patients with the disease would soon have to present at A&E units across the State and risk spreading their infection to others.
"Our members are deeply concerned at the proposed termination of the chest/respiratory services at the hospital. They are at a loss to understand how the decision to discontinue such a vital service has been taken," it said.
However, a spokesman for Peamount said details of the move still had to be worked out. "Something will be worked out so that others are not put at risk."