There are 54 patients waiting on a bed today at Letterkenny University Hospital, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
Letterkenny was the second worst affected hospital in the country today after Cork University Hospital with 54 patients waiting on trolleys.
Attendances at emergency departments across the country have been higher this year than ever before, the HSE has said.
Its interim Chief Executive Stephen Mulvany told the Oireachtas Health Committee that levels of infectious respiratory diseases are at exceptional levels, with sustained peaks when compared with the last five seasons.
He said that over the last two weeks, there have been days when the National Ambulance Service has received more than 2,000 calls a day, which represents a new record high.
He said that the situation is being experienced by almost all health systems in western Europe.
Mr Mulvany said that the HSE regrets that there have been increased numbers of patients waiting on trolleys and in surge facilities for longer periods.
He said that HSE staff do not believe this is acceptable and neither does the executive.
Mr Mulvany said that the winter GP out-of-hours services are seeing nearly 39,000 patients a week on average.
He set out some of the escalation measures in place like extra seven-day working across acute and community services since 5 January; extended clinic hours by GPs of up to eight hours a week and the National Ambulance Service engaging private capacity.
He told the Committee that there has been a substantial improvement in the situation over the past week, with a significant decrease in the numbers of patients on a trolley awaiting a hospital bed.
FG Senator Martin Conway said that the HSE’s Winter Plan was an unmitigated disaster and described the HSE’s response to the crisis as lacklustre.
Mr Mulvany said he would not accept that, however he told the Committee that any level of overcrowding was not acceptable.
Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane TD, said that all the warning signs were there before the record levels of overcrowding were recorded.
He said there was a lack of urgency or leadership by the HSE.
