Health Minister Simon Harris has been branded a “failure” as a new record of 760 people waited for hospital beds as distressed staff work in “chaotic” conditions.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said conditions are “inhumane” and the worst it has ever witnessed since counting began 15 years ago.

The shocking figure is higher than the amount of patients needed to fill St James’s Hospital in Dublin – the largest in Ireland with 707 beds.

University Hospital Limerick also broke the daily record for an individual hospital yesterday with 92 patients on trolleys.

© Gareth Chaney/Collins Minister for Health Simon Harris TD

All elective surgery has been cancelled at Cork’s two main hospitals until further notice in response to overcrowding in their emergency departments.

And in order to contain the spread of flu, Mercy University Hospital in Cork has imposed a complete visitor ban while Cork University Hospital has also implemented restrictions.

Facilities in Waterford, Limerick and South Tipperary have also put a visitor plan in place.

In the week of what is regarded as one of the busiest times for emergency departments, the INMO said both Cork hospitals are operating “beyond their limits” and they expect the situation to get worse. The INMO and politicians have blamed the Government’s recruitment ban for the overcrowding crisis.

Sinn Fein TD Louise O’Reilly has said the new record-breaking trolley figures highlights Minister Harris’ “failed tenure”.

She added: “Behind each and every statistic is a real person who is seriously unwell waiting on a hospital bed.

© Provided by Reach Publishing Services Limited Sinn Fein spokesperson for Health Louise O'Reilly TD

“Harris needs to look beyond his own propaganda and begin an immediate crisis intervention package that will alleviate the pressure on services.

“This means lifting the recruitment embargo on frontline staff and expanding capacity in our hospitals.”

Labour’s Alan Kelly said staff are “distressed” over the numbers flowing into the country’s

emergency departments.

He added: “Staff are overworked and overstressed and this can’t be allowed to continue.

“This situation wasn’t unforeseen but the Government and the HSE have refused to heed the very stark warnings.

“The usual excuses on why this crisis is under way won’t wash with the public or with hospital staff.

“It is time for Minister Harris to come clean on when the recruitment ban will be suspended.”

The INMO is calling for a major incident protocol to be adopted across the country.

© Provided by Reach Publishing Services Limited Labour Party TD Alan Kelly

This is likely to see all non-emergency admissions halted, elective surgery cancelled and extra bed capacity sourced from the private and public sectors.

The General Secretary of the INMO, Phil Ni Sheaghdha claimed hospitals in Cork had a number of nurses on panels in October but were not sanctioned to put them on payroll until the end of last month.

She said: “We are very critical of the preplanning, we’re very critical of the deliberate slowdown in recruitment that has been imposed by the HSE nationally.

“It’s deliberate, it’s a policy and it has to go. We were before the Oireachtas Committee on health twice this year, we flagged this up.

“The excuse that this is all down to the flu simply doesn’t hold.

“Behind these numbers are hundreds of individual vulnerable patients – it is simply shameful

situation.”

The HSE’s national director of acute hospitals Liam Woods admitted there is a shortage of hospital beds and gaps in community care.

He acknowledged “this is not a good day” for the health system but told RTE news that capacity will improve with 190 beds due to open in the first quarter of this year.

He said 40 will open in a new unit in Clonmel in the next four weeks, with further ones due to be made available in Drogheda and Waterford.

Meanwhile, Siptu’s health division organiser Paul Bell said paramedics are under “immense pressure” across the country.

© Provided by Irish Mirror Hospital trolleys (stock)

He added: “We have an unacceptable situation where our members are reporting delays in some cases of between three-and-a-half and seven hours outside emergency departments as our now annual winter overcrowding crisis bites.” The HSE and the INMO are due to meet again tomorrow to discuss how they plan to tackle the overcrowding issue.

Mr Harris said the Government is assisting hospitals with support and promised to open 199 new beds by the end of the month.

And 50 additional beds were opening yesterday in a number of locations across the country with more due at the end of the week.

The Health Minister said: “I reiterated that we are willing as a Government to do what it takes to provide our hospitals with the support during this difficult period.”