The overcrowding situation at hospitals nationwide is expected to get worse before it gets better, the Minister for Health has admitted.

Stephen Donnelly made his comments while visiting a number of hospitals on Tuesday. He said that flu, RSV and Covid cases have created a “perfect storm” for the health service and it is believed that the flu wave has not yet peaked.

Some 931 patients were left waiting on trolleys and chairs on Tuesday – the highest daily number ever recorded by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). It has been counting the number of patients on trolleys on a daily basis since 2006.

According to the organisation’s general secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, these figures require “immediate and serious intervention from the government”.

“We do not need those at the top to describe how we got here - we need to know what exactly the plan is from now until the end of February. Just telling people to avoid hospitals is not a plan or indeed safe. The public need to know exactly what type of care they can expect over the next six weeks,” she insisted.

Her comment was in response to the HSE urging people to “consider all options before going to an ED”. It suggested alternatives such as community pharmacies, GPs and minor injury units.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha said that staff are “extremely disillusioned” by the situation and patients are being cared for in “inhumane and often unsafe conditions”.

The INMO called for the return of mandated mask-wearing in congregated settings, which it described as a “simple measure” that could have a big impact.

It also called for “real tangible plans and decisions at a national level” to tackle this crisis.