The Health Service Executive has told unions that the staff recruitment freeze is to continue and will be reviewed again in four weeks time.
Liam Doran, General Secretary on the Irish Nurses Organisation, said the decision means it will be a bleak winter in the hospital system.
The Executive has agreed to moderate the impact of the recruitment ban in certain areas.
The ban was put in place last month, as the HSE said it has exceeded its budget by over €245 million.
Unions are expected to seek an emergency meeting of the Labour Relations Commission.
Earlier, the INO said financial cutbacks in the health services have lead to chaos in three of the midlands' regional hospitals.
The INO Industrial Relations Officer, Joe Hoolan, said nine nurses at the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore have been effectively laid off and 19 beds closed in the orthopaedic unit.
Mr Hoolan claims the hospital is now only opening its operating theatres every second day because of the cutbacks and nurses were been placed under new pressures and strains.
The INO also claims bed numbers have also been reduced significantly in Portlaoise and Mullingar.
