Galway Bay fm newsroom: Patients attending the city's public hospitals are facing significant delays today.
The full capacity protocol has been put in place at UHG, as more than 30 patients wait on trolleys.
Management at UHG say all efforts continue to be made to identify patients who are appropriate for discharge.
It's understood some patients have been sent to the outpatients department at Unit 2 Merlin Park in a bid to ease the pressure.
Long queues have formed at the Merlin Park unit this afternoon as a result.
Patients are being urged to only attend the hospitals in the case of a genuine emergency and to contact their GP in the first instance.