The Irish Association of Emergency Medicine says more home care and community services are needed, to reduce the pressure in hospital wards.
It comes as the number of patients waiting on trolleys in hospitals around the country reached 601 earlier this week – a figure which is being labeled as a record high.
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The IAEM says delayed discharges are contributing to the problem of bed shortages in acute hospitals.
The group says while the reduction of the numbers of patients on trolleys in recent days is welcome, the current figure of 370 is still too high.
Dr Fergal Hickey is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Sligo Regional Hospital.
He says the Government and the HSE need to put in place a long-term strategy to solve this problem
