At least two patients had to be treated in ambulances in the car park of one of Dublin's major hospitals yesterday when its accident and emergency unit became grossly overcrowded.
The situation at the Mater Hospital was described as "chaotic" by a hospital spokeswoman yesterday afternoon when there were 26 patients waiting for beds.
"We only have 18 trolleys. As a result we have been holding ambulances. At the moment we are holding an ambulance because it's the only place to treat the patient. We are treating a patient on a trolley in the ambulance," the spokeswoman said. Another patient had been treated in an ambulance earlier, she confirmed.
"It is chaotic. It's atrocious really," she added.
The hospital tried to get "protection" yesterday morning from other hospitals, which would involve diverting ambulances to the other hospitals, but was unable to do so because others were similarly busy.
Even the resuscitation bay in the hospital was taken over by patients waiting for beds, which was very serious, the spokeswoman added.
When The Irish Times revealed last June that contingency plans had been drawn up to treat patients in ambulances in the Mater car park if its A&E unit became overcrowded, the Eastern Regional Health Authority said this was inappropriate and not necessary. Others said it would never happen. Now it has.
Other hospitals under pressure yesterday included Beaumont which had 19 patients on trolleys in its A&E department. However a spokesman for the hospital said this was down to 16 by tea time.
At the Mater and Beaumont, which both had to close beds earlier this year due to funding difficulties, it was said that while they had reopened some beds it was now difficult to get nursing staff to cover them. "It's a persistent problem trying to get in agency staff to provide cover at weekends," Beaumont's spokesman said.
He said a further factor was that many agency nurses, who covered for staff on holidays during August, were now themselves away on holiday.
The hospital expected the situation to ease when 50 of its nurses graduate shortly, he added.
No figures were available last evening for the numbers awaiting admission at Tallaght's A&E unit, but it too was understood to be very busy.