There were 42 people awaiting admission to Letterkenny University Hospital this morning, making it the third most overcrowded hospital in the country today.
Ten people were on trolleys in its Emergency Department while a further 32 people were waiting on wards.
University Hospital Limerick was the most overcrowded with 69 people waiting there followed by Cork University Hospital with 43.
The nationwide figure is 492, an increase of 27% on the same day last year when there were 387 patients on trolleys.
Letterkenny University Hospital issued a statement regarding the situation today:
Letterkenny University Hospital is experiencing high volumes of patients attending at the Emergency Department today, September 18th.
LUH apologises for any distress or inconvenience caused to patients or their loved ones who are experiencing long wait times. We also acknowledge the difficult situation for our staff and thank them for their continued dedication and commitment to patient care.
Among the measures being taken to reduce waiting times in the ED are: the transfer of appropriate patients to community care settings; communication with GPs to ensure patients are referred to ED only where appropriate and extra ward rounds by consultants.
We would like to remind the public that we encourage them to attend the Emergency Department only in the case of real emergencies and they should contact their GP or GP Out-of-Hours service in the first instance.
