A heavy flu outbreak in Northern Ireland has put the North's hospital service under severe strain.
Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry is filled to capacity and Craigavon Area Hospital has recorded the busiest winter period in its 30-year history.
"There has been a huge increase in pneumonia and respiratory conditions and these people need beds and don't tend to recuperate quickly," said a Craigavon hospital spokeswoman yesterday. "This pressure may not ease for months."
While hospitals expect pressure around Christmas and the new year, the first signs that the situation had escalated came from the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, Co Down. The hospital made a public appeal for its staff to return early from the Christmas break due to an increased workload and sickness among the staff. Lagan Valley Hospital was also hit badly by staff shortages.
On New Year's Eve, Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast, which is usually closed over Christmas, recalled all of its staff and took in 38 patients from the three main acute Belfast hospitals in an attempt to alleviate the pressure.
"This is the third year that we have been asked by the Eastern Health Board to help out," said the hospital administrator, Mr Brian Sore. "We took six patients last year, which we could handle easily, but bigger numbers could affect our scheduled operations in the long run."
A spokeswoman in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast said the hospital was "scraping by", but stressed that no patient would be turned away. From Christmas Eve to January 4th, an estimated 449 people were admitted to the hospital through the casualty department.
Only six of the 12 beds in the intensive care unit of the children's wing of the hospital have been opened due to staff shortages, and routine operations have been postponed until January 24th due to an outbreak of the bronchiolitis virus.
The Mater Hospital in north Belfast has been one of those hardest hit, with patients spending nights on trolleys in the casualty department. The North's Minister of Health, Ms Bairbre de Brun of Sinn Fein, is to visit the hospital today to view the situation.
Ms de Brun has requested a review of the measures taken by the four health boards to deal with winter pressures. Yesterday said she was determined to find the extra resources and staff to deal with the crisis. "It will unfortunately mean reducing outpatient clinics and non-emergency surgery so the staff can be transferred," she added.
A spokesman for the Mater Hospital said yesterday that the pressures were not new. "We have had trolley waits in March and in August. In the past, we would have said we were coping but now we have to admit that the system is reaching a crisis point."
Dr Terry Maguire, director of the North's Pharmaceutical Society, said people had an unnecessary tendency to call on the hospital service when ill. "A fit, healthy individual who comes down with a flu or cold just needs to climb into bed and take some minor treatment," he said.
The feeling of health professionals yesterday was that what had previously been viewed as an annual, seasonal pressure on staff and beds has now become a year-round problem. The lack of funding for the health services and the persistent shortage of trained nurses in the North were stressed by most as the central issues demanding attention.