MORE THAN 700 patients in hospitals are waiting to be given a bed for the second day in a row, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The INMO Trolley Watch recorded 702 patients waiting for beds in hospitals today, after seeing 747 waiting yesterday.

It marks a significant jump since last week, when the figure ranged between 484 and 571.

As of today, 520 patients are waiting in emergency departments and a further 182 are elsewhere in wards, according to Trolley Watch.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha has called for a meeting with the HSE and Minister for Health to discuss measures that can be taken to protect patients and staff.

She said the trolley figures are “truly shocking” and “should be a wake up call to the Health Service Executive, the Government and individual hospital groups that extraordinary steps must be taken to ensure that we are not replicating the same record breaking trolley numbers we saw at the beginning of this year”.

“The HSE must take action in the form of accelerating the use of private hospital beds, the immediate cancellation of all non-urgent elective activity and the introduction of heightened infection control measures in all hospitals,” Ní Sheaghdha said.

“The INMO has been warning that dangerous levels of overcrowding were imminent. There is still time to avoid intolerable levels of overcrowding ahead of Christmas and the New Year if action is taken now.”

The HSE’S Respiratory Virus tracker has recorded 368 cases of people hospitalised this week with RSV.

There are 192 cases of Covid-19 in hospitals and 56 of influenza.