Hospitals in the Midlands are experiencing increasing numbers of people requiring admission.
In recent days, management at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore and the Regional Hospital Mullingar urged patients requiring non-urgent care to seek assistance from other parts of the health service due to demands on the hospitals.
Today, management at the Midlands Regional Hospital is asking patients with non-emergency conditions to seek assistance from other parts of the health service such as their local Pharmacist, GP, GP out of hours service, or a local injury unit.
It said patients who are presenting at the emergency department with non-urgent conditions are experiencing very long waiting times.
Management at the hospital stressed however that any patient who needs emergency hospital care will be seen and it urged such patients not to delay attending the ED.
It added that it continues to monitor the situation closely and will provide further updates as necessary.
