Patients have been left on trolleys in the corridors of the west of Ireland's biggest hospital this week, despite a multimillion-pound investment in the facility.
Three new operating theatres, built as part of the first phase of the development at University College Hospital Galway (UCHG), remain idle. Two new wards, with 100 beds between them, are also partly closed, while an existing ward has been shut for renovations.
Nursing staff at UCHG have called on the Western Health Board to open 15 beds. The Minister for State at the Department of Health, Mr Frank Fahey, said that the opening of the new units was a matter for the health board, but he pointed out that funding had been provided for their commissioning.
A spokesperson for the Western Health Board said work still had to be carried out on the unit which houses the overnight beds in the Accident and Emergency Unit.
The spokesperson said sections of the unit had already opened and the WHB expected all of the developments carried out under Phase 1 to be fully operational by the end of the year.