Minister for Health Mary Harney said the report of an independent inquiry into the death of a man who bled to death at Monaghan General Hospital last October "details an intolerable breach of acceptable patient care".
The Health Service Executive (HSE) is to forward the report to the Medical Council due to the seriousness of its findings.
The report, which was published this afternoon, said that, after requests for a transfer, the unwillingness of surgeons in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and Cavan General Hospital to immediately accept the transfer of Patrick Joseph Walsh was "unacceptable".
Mr Walsh needed emergency surgery on a bleeding ulcer, but doctors in Monaghan were not allowed carry out emergency surgery.
Ms Harney said the report "identified a shocking level of dysfunction embedded in the day-to-day operation of hospitals in the North East".
"The absence of co-operation and lack of solidarity among some clinicians in the North East and between some clinicians and management has put patients at risk," Ms Harney said.
"It also exposes a failure in communications between the hospitals in the region. It is impossible to ensure acceptable standards of patient care in such circumstances."
The report found that following a deterioration in Mr Walsh's condition on the morning of October 14th, 2005, doctors at Monaghan Hospital were unable to arrange the transfer of Mr Walsh to either Drogheda or Cavan hospitals, although there were critical-care beds available in both hospitals.
It also states that the failure of the on-call consultant at Monaghan hospital to make direct telephone contact with the on-call consultants at Drogheda and Cavan hospitals or consider the option of directly transferring Mr Walsh by ambulance "fell short of good clinical practice".
The authors also believe there has been a continued failure on the part of management over a sustained period to address the factors that resulted in Mr Walsh's death.
The only bright spot for the HSE is that the report finds the clinical management of Mr Walsh at both Drogheda and Monaghan Hospital was "appropriate and beyond criticism".
The report was compiled by Declan Carey, a consultant surgeon at Belfast City Hospital, and Prof John Monson, professor of surgery at the University of Hull.
At the publication of the report, the HSE expressed its regret at the inability to transfer Mr Walsh to Drogheda or Cavan hospitals and admitted the circumstances surrounding the failure to make this transfer were unacceptable.
HSE representatives, along with Prof Monson and Mr Carey, met members of Mr Walsh's family earlier this week and provided them with copies of the report.
Following Mr Walsh's death, a directive was put in place instructing that all requests for transfer from Monaghan hospital to Cavan hospital must be granted and processed immediately.