Sick patients were left languishing in seven ambulances outside a hospital in the north west on Sunday as additional staff were drafted into the crisis-hit facility.
There were 196 new Covid-19 infections in Co Donegal on Sunday with 65 people battling the disease at Letterkenny University Hospital.
Hero hospital workers were treating patients in the ambulances outside due to the backlog.
A spokeswoman for the Saolta University Health Care group, which manages hospitals across the west and north west, said: “It has been an extremely busy weekend at Letterkenny University Hospital.
“Throughout the weekend there has been a large number of patients presenting with suspect or confirmed Covid-19, many of whom required admission to the hospital.
“As a result of the sustained level of these presentations over the course of today, the hospital has had few beds available, which has resulted in delays in admission specifically for patients going to the dedicated Covid-19 zone.
“As part of the hospital’s response to this serious situation, clinical teams assessed patients who were delayed being admitted from the ambulance.
“This was to ensure that patients were treated in clinical priority.
“The hospital has secured additional staff this evening, which is enabling it to open a further 11 beds in order to respond to the demand. While there were ambulances delayed late this afternoon, over the course of the evening they have, and continue to be released.
“The hospital would like to apologise to patients for the distress that these delays cause and would like to acknowledge the huge effort of its staff.”
