Hospital ED trolley numbers exceeded 400 yesterday for the second time this month.

A total of 403 patients were on hospital trolleys yesterday awaiting admission to wards, according to the INMO's Trolley Watch.

This included 40 patients on ED trolleys in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital and 33 trolley patients at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

In addition, according to the INMO, there were 93 additional patients placed on already full hospital wards around the country yesterday.

The INMO has claimed that while overall trolley numbers have been reduced over the past year or so, the hospital overcrowding problem has now spread to the wards.

1,300 on overcrowded wards in four weeks