Galway Bay fm newsroom - Overcrowding at University Hospital Galway is nearly three times higher thanin 2007 according to new figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
There were 6,000 people on trolleys or in overcrowded wards at UHG by November this year, compared with just over 2,000 people for the same period in 2007.
Nationally there were 91,000 patients on trolleys or in overcrowded wards between January and November this year - a 95 per cent increase on 2007.
The Emergency Department Taskforce is meeting this Thursday to discuss hospital overcrowding with Health Minister Simon Harris.
General Secretary of the INMO Liam Doran says that Galway needs at least 100 more acute beds to cope with demand.