The State's major hospitals and non-consultant doctors have appealed for a speedy resolution of the nurses dispute amid fears that resources will be so stretched over the bank holiday weekend that medical staff will be unable to cope with emergencies.
A non-consultant doctor at University College Hospital, Galway, said that if a typical bank holiday weekend road accident were to occur, "it's quite likely someone would die".
At one of Dublin's main acute hospitals, a non-consultant doctor said medical staff had had a few "near-misses" and were "hanging on by our fingernails".
As hospitals brace themselves for an influx of emergency cases over the bank holiday weekend, the leave of most non-consultant doctors has been cancelled, with many being asked to work additional 36-hour shifts.
Dublin's five main acute hospitals said the existing conditions were tenable only "in the very short term".
In a joint statement, St Vincent's, St James's, the Mater, Beaumont and the Adelaide and Meath at Tallaght, said accident and emergency departments were "likely to very rapidly come under considerable strain, particularly over the weekend".
However, they said, "the primary concern is now beginning to shift to patients whose attendance at the hospitals has been deferred.
"While they do not strictly meet emergency designated criteria, many of these patients have conditions (such as known or suspected cancers) which if not diagnosed or treated very quickly could deteriorate greatly with serious consequences for patients."
The masters of Dublin's three maternity hospitals also warned last night that it would be "impossible to provide an adequate service" if the strike escalated.
The master of the Coombe, Dr Sean Daly, said last night that his staff were "managing to provide a service but can't sustain it on any long-term basis".
The masters called on all sides to the dispute to find a resolution as quickly as possible. "There can be no excuse for allowing days to pass without negotiations taking place," they said.
The State's 2,500 non-consultant doctors have been forced to perform the bulk of nursing duties in all hospitals, such as administering intravenous drips and taking blood.
Their spokesman, Dr Mick Molloy from the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), said hospital doctors were worried that if a solution was not found "fairly shortly," the strike could escalate.
Bank holiday weekends are usually very busy times for acute hospitals, with increases in road accidents and alcohol-related emergency cases.
At Cork University Hospital, non-consultant doctors have been asked to work an additional four hours on top of regular shifts to cope with the 40,000 people who are expected to attend the city's Guinness Jazz Festival.
At the Mater Hospital in Dublin, doctors met the nurses strike committee and management yesterday to voice serious concerns about the level of nursing coverage and inconsistencies in the type of work nurses were prepared to carry out.
A non-consultant doctor at University College Hospital, Galway, who did not wish to be named, said: "Things are in an absolute heap. It's a mess. The whole system is just grinding to a halt.
"It's not as simple as the volume of patients being reduced, because every task is taking much longer than normal and it's expanding the time and intensity of junior doctors' work."
The doctor said the emergency cover system in the hospital was creating "yards of red tape" and continuity of care was affected as nurses were often working on wards with which they were not familiar. "Things are just ticking along now, but if you get any additional problems over the bank holiday weekend, there could be enormous difficulties. I think there is the potential here for people to die along the way."
The industrial relations executive of the IMO, Mr Fintan Hourihan, confirmed there had been difficulties reported in a number of hospitals, but generally, relations with nurses remained good.
Concern is mounting for the elderly and people with disabilities, normally serviced by public health nurses, as well as mentally handicapped patients who have been discharged from residential facilities.
In the Mid-Western Health Board area, 161 patients have been discharged from three facilities: St Anne's, Roscrea; Brothers of Charity, Bawnmore; and the Daughters of Charity, Lisnagry.