Beaumont Hospital in Dublin has cancelled all planned surgeries, with the exception of cancer surgeries, for the week in an effort to manage the overcrowding crisis at the hospital.

Nurses at the hospital today served notice of industrial action and will commence work-to-rule on january 27.

Today there were 601 patients around the country in hospital Emergency Departments or on wards waiting for admission to a bed, a record number according to the INMO.

The figure yesterday reached a staggering 563 with Liam Doran of INMO calling for action from the government as emergency departments struggled to deal with the amount of patients who needed to be admitted.

Overcrowding was again worst in Drogheda with a total of 45 people waiting to be admitted while Dublin's Beaumont hospital, which has voted for industrial action on the matter, have a total of 41 people waiting on beds.

Nurses at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital have voted in favour of industrial action due to the emergency department overcrowding.

Newstalk.com reporter Richard Chambers spoke to people at the hospital this morning, alongside Independent TD Finian McGrath, who called for immediate action to resolve the issue:

All of the hospital's members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation voted in favour of a work to rule on the 27th of January.

INMO General Secretary Liam Doran says the action at Beaumont won't impact patient care - and more hospitals may follow.

Meanwhile, the HSE's Assistant National Director of Acute Hospitals, Angela Fitzgerald, says overcrowding in emergency departments is "unacceptable" and a "growing concern".

Here are the figures as they stand:

One of the people waiting on a trolley yesterday was Mary Loughlin who brought her 91-year-old aunt to the Emergency Department in Limerick Regional Hospital last weekend. They were waiting for about 10 hours before anyone saw them.

Ms Loughlin said she was asked to mind the trolley space: " I had to stand in the spot and make sure that an ambulance wouldn't come in and unload another patient on to the trolley."

She spoke to Jonathan Healy on Lunchtime today: