Eight patients on trolleys at Mullingar hospital today

There are eight patients on trolleys at the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, today.

According to the daily Trolley Watch survey conducted by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, the patients are all in the Emergency Department (ED).

Today's national total is 265, of whom 213 are on EDs, and of whom five are younger than 16.

The hospital with the highest number of patients on trolleys today is University Hospital Limerick, where there are 66 - of whom 49 are in the ED.

The number for the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore today is 21, all in the ED.