There are 130 patients waiting for admission to a bed at University Hospital Limerick today, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The union said that this is the highest number recorded there on a single day.
INMO Assistant Director for Industrial Relations Mary Fogarty said that the record figure comes as no surprise to its members as they have been working in overcrowded and understaffed wards with no reprieve for years.
Nationally, the INMO says there are 563 patients waiting for admission to a bed.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Ms Fogarty said they believe the situation in Limerick is due to a "patient flow process issue".
The union has called on local management to suspend all hospital activity until the hospital has been "de-escalated" and to undertake an urgent examination of the internal patient flow process.
Ms Fogarty said until this issue is addressed, the situation will continue.
INMO members are concerned about their safety and that the patients in their care are not receiving "adequate and safe care", she said.
"We are very concerned, our nurses are very concerned that no matter how much capacity goes into the hospital until the internal patent flow processes are examined and addressed that this will continue, that there will not be any alleviation of the problem," Ms Fogarty added.
