There were 400 people waiting for beds in emergency departments across the country this morning.
The highest concentration of patients on trolleys was in the main Dublin hospitals.
In Tallaght Hospital, 39 people were on trolleys, while 38 people were on trolleys at the Beaumont Hospital.
This morning's figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation show that 29 people were on trolleys at St Vincent’s University Hospital.
Cork University Hospital had 31 patients on trolleys, with 30 in Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda and 26 people on trolleys at Cavan General Hospital.
A spokesperson for the Health Service Executive said all hospitals remained extremely busy this morning but continued to make progress in dealing with waiting patients.
She said if individual hospitals decided to cancel any elective procedures because of the current busy period, affected patients would be contacted directly.
INMO fears midland cutbacks
Meanwhile, the INMO has said it fears that emergency services at the Midland Regional Hospitals in Portlaoise and Mullingar are to be curtailed by the HSE.
In a statement, the INMO said: ‘The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and its members are becoming increasingly fearful that the HSE is secretly planning to curtail emergency services in Portlaoise and Mullingar Hospitals.
‘Their fear, at a time of national crisis in the delivery of accident and emergency services, is that HSE will reduce those A&E Departments from a 24-hour service to 12 hour with 8am-8pm opening hours.
'This would mean transferring all night time emergency cases to the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore, possibly with effect from next week.
‘If such change comes into play, it will mean that many seriously ill patients will be poured into an already severely overcrowded Emergency Department in Tullamore.’
Lorraine Monaghan, INMO Industrial Relations Officer, said: ‘We call on the HSE to immediately come out from hiding and declare their plans for the midland hospitals.’
The HSE has said that the future of A&E facilities at Roscommon County Hospital will not be clear until next Tuesday when details of the number of junior doctors available become clear.
A protest was held outside the hospital this morning as concern grows that the A&E department, already under pressure during the present cold spell, will be closed from 8pm each night because of the scarcity of junior doctors.
