Sinn Fein's Waterford TD is calling on the Minister for Health to buy up private hospital accommodation to prevent chaotic waiting lists in the coming weeks.
760 patients were left waiting for a bed in hospitals around the Country yesterday.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said last night that the current situation is back to pre-pandemic levels.
According to their figures, there were two on trolleys in University Hospital Waterford yesterday, and 17 in total last week.
However, HSE trolley figures - which are calculated differently - say the hospital has not had a patient on a trolley in the Emergency Department since March of 2020.
According to that data, Saturday marked the 1,000th day for UHW without anybody waiting on trolleys in the ED.
However, with yesterday's record figures nationally, Sinn Fein's Health spokesperson David Cullinane says if the Minister is serious about addressing the problem, he would purchase beds in the private sector.
"The Minister needs to do everything possible to maximise capacity for public patients and if that means utilising the private healthcare sector over the next number of months, then that should be done," he said.
Deputy Cullinane says he suggested before Budget 2022 that they set money aside for more beds in order to prepare for this Winter, but that not one additional bed was funded.
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