January has seen unprecedented demands on Cork University Hospital's Emergency Department - with 293 people presenting yesterday - the highest recorded number for a single day, ever.
Hospital management say presentations at its ED are up 35% on the same time last year, while hospital admissions are up 37%.
Of those, the number of people aged 75 years and over attending the ED is up 43%, with admissions in this age group up 57% on January last year.
They appealed to the public this evening to only attend at the hospital's ED for major health emergencies.
In a statement, CUH's CEO David Donegan urged people to use alternatives to the ED where possible, such as GP surgeries and South Doc out-of-hours which he said have increased capacity, as well as local injury units.
