The Irish Nurses and Midwives organisation has issued a stark warning over a rapid return to overcrowding in hospitals.
It comes as the organisation has released new data which shows a record September as it relates to trolley figures.
The INMO says that COVID remains a significant threat and winter is fast approaching.
Five hospitals have had their worst-ever September for overcrowding this month, new figures from the INMO show.
Letterkenny University Hospital which has been ranked as the third most overcrowded in Ireland, has seen more patients on trolleys this September than any other year.
The figures show that there were a total of 821 patients waiting for a bed at Letterkenny University Hospital over the month of September.
This compares with 66 patients in total waiting for a bed at the facility in September 2020.
This means there were twelve times as many patients waiting in Letterkenny University Hospital this month compared with last year.
Overall, it is the second-worst-ever September for overcrowding in Ireland, with 8,414 on trolleys in September 2021. The worst-ever September was in 2019, with 10,641 on trolleys.
