More beds are urgently needed in public hospitals if the problem of overcrowding is to addressed, hospital consultants have said.

According to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), the health service requires major investment and this must be prioritised by the incoming government.

"Ireland already has one of the lowest numbers of acute hospital beds in the OECD and in the run up to the General Election, all political parties should confirm their commitment to urgently increasing frontline resources if they are in the next government," commented IHCA president, Dr Gerard Crotty.

He pointed out that according to OECD statistics, Ireland has 2.8 acute beds per 1,000 population, which is 40% below the OECD average of 4.8 beds per 1,000

As well as this, Ireland also has one of the lowest number of practicing doctors and a very high bed occupancy with a short length of stay.

"This has a massive impact on the quality of care that can be provided to our patients. Research has proven that there is an increased mortality rate in Emergency Departments when they are overcrowded. Increased investment is urgently required in our health service - we need more beds and more doctors, not less. We have an overstretched health service that is not adequately resourced to meet the increased demands," Dr Crotty said.

He noted that the problem of patients on trolleys is now no longer a seasonal issue, but is a year-round problem and this ‘highlights the extreme nature of the acute hospital capacity shortage'.

He added that the situation has deteriorated because over the past decade, the number of acute hospital beds has been reduced by an estimated 1,500 (15%), ‘at a time when an increase in beds was required to cater for the higher demand for hospital care because of our growing and ageing population'.