A Shannon-based GP has said conditions at University Hospital Limerick are intolerable and it is appalling that people in the midwest have to accept the same conditions "year after year".
It comes after the HSE yesterday asked patients who are "less acutely unwell" not to attend the hospital but to seek other forms of treatment such as at GPs, injury units or pharmacists.
In a statement, the HSE said that care at UHL was prioritised for the sickest patients and that surgery there was limited to urgent cases only.
However Dr Yvonne Williams said medical assessment units yesterday were also at capacity.
"Yesterday morning when I contacted the medical assessment units, there was no availability in Ennis," she said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"There was one appointment in Nenagh at 12pm and that was it for the day. So, you know, it's fine to put out the media release saying to go to these units, but they're also at capacity and being used for overflow."
Dr Williams said she believed that patients staying away from the hospital yesterday would have made minimal difference to the situation there.
"5% or 10% at best," she added. She said that she tries to avoid referring patients to UHL.
People are willing to travel, Dr Williams said, but not everyone can.
The decision to refer elsewhere is one made between GP and patient, she added.
"People are afraid to go in. And if people have health insurance, which is very expensive, we do encourage them to use it, because we know that they'll be seen faster. We know that they'll get a bed."
681 patients on hospital trolleys - INMO
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said that 681 patients are being treated on trolleys and chairs in hospitals.
Phil Ní Sheaghdha, INMO General Secretary, said that the number of patients being treated in inappropriate bed spaces "continues to be out of control".
"Since the beginning of January, there has been an average of 631 patients admitted without a bed each day."
"Healthcare professionals are delivering patient care under increasingly undignified and unacceptable conditions," she said.
"This is not the standard of care expected in a country that has the resources to provide additional capacity and support."
Meanwhile, the HSE has said that 522 patients are waiting on hospital trolleys.
It said that there are 362 patients on trolleys in an emergency department and 160 patients on trolleys in a ward.
