The interim CEO of the Health Service Executive has said that while this week has been the worst week on record for hospital overcrowding, he cannot say for certain that "it won't get worse before it gets better".
Earlier this week, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said that a record 931 patients were waiting for a hospital bed across the country.
This morning the INMO said there are 535 patients waiting to access a hospital bed, with 54 waiting at Cork University Hospital and 50 patients waiting at University Hospital Limerick.
The union's Executive Council will meet later in emergency session about HSE action over the current overcrowding crisis.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Stephen Mulvaney, who is visiting UHL, which has seen some of the worst overcrowding in its emergency department, said that typically trolley numbers would be at their highest on Mondays and Tuesdays.
"This morning's visit is part of a series of visits to all of our hospital sites, last week, this week and next week.
"The main purpose is to be on the ground to understand directly from staff and managers what is happening, to be visible and offer support and in some cases we can take away some items to try and problem resolve, national issues we can clarify," he said.
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Mr Mulvaney said trolley numbers are substantially down compared to earlier this week because of the efforts by staff across the hospital to try to move patients safely through as much as they could.
He added that the HSE is taking certain steps, such as asking hospital staff to work as much as possible over the coming weeks.
"That is why as part of our overall efforts we have asked all of our staff in the hospital and community for the next two, three weekends to work across the weekends ... so we can level the load over the weekend, so we can drive down as much as possible that trolley number."
Mr Mulvaney said flu cases had not yet peaked, so it is difficult to predict the numbers next week.
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Mr Mulvaney said some of the actions being taken to alleviate the pressure on hospitals is by going through "every single piece of capacity in the community", looking unit by unit at all public community beds and private beds.
He said they are also engaging with HIQA to see what can be done safely around admissions and are making sure no stone is left unturned.
Mr Mulvaney also said that 50 beds have been identified across two or three sites that can be reopened and some have already.
This afternoon, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly described the current overcrowding in emergency departments as "completely unacceptable".
Speaking following a visit to a minor injury clinic in Smithfield in Dublin, in which he aimed to highlight the role such units can play, Mr Donnelly said the sight of people waiting for more than 57 hours for admission to hospital was not something that should be seen.
He said the current combination of flu, RSV and Covid-19 has created a "perfect storm" in terms of hospital admissions and was not something that has been in previous years. He added the country was now seeing a situation akin to that seen in the southern hemisphere in the past few months.
"Obviously more still needs to be done. Efforts are ongoing within the hospitals and within the community services as well to see as many people as possible today, and critically, to discharge as many people as possible," he said.
"There will be more senior decision makers on site. They'll be looking for things like access to radiology and critically they'll also need access to community services.
"The injury units can very successfully treat patients who are coming into emergency departments. Typically, they are less congested and typically the time for treatment is quicker.
Mr Donnelly told reporters that healthcare workers are "already working above and beyond in many cases and particularly in EDs".
"A lot of hospital consultants, radiology staff are coming in at the weekends. There is an opportunity for some senior decision makers to be on site, in some of the bigger hospitals where they have more staff and this will help with discharges"
He added that there is intensive engagement with hospitals and nursing homes to ensure there are stepdown facilities in place for patients who are discharged over the weekend.
