Almost 10,000 patients were left waiting on trolleys in hospitals around the country last month, new figures have shown.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), a total of 9,657 patients were left waiting on trolleys during the month of February - a 33% increase when compared to February of 2014 and a 75% increase when compared to February 2013.

In fact, this is the highest February figure recorded since the INMO began its ‘Trolley Watch' service back in 2007.

The hospitals with the highest trolley figures last month included Beaumont Hospital in Dublin (769 patients on trolleys), Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda (715), University Hospital Limerick (709), University Hospital Galway (620), St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin (532) and Letterkenny General (527).

According to INMO general secretary, Liam Doran, the figures ‘truly confirm the scale of the crisis from overcrowding'.

"This level of overcrowding inevitably leads to the care of patients being compromised and frontline staff being overworked. The Emergency Department Taskforce must now agree the range of actions necessary to alleviate this crisis and allow patients be cared for appropriately with privacy and dignity," he insisted.

Such measures, he said, include increased bed capacity and the restoration of community nursing services.

"These measures will require additional funding and the Government must acknowledge this need and provide the necessary additional resources on a continued and sustained basis," Mr Doran added.