A consultant is questioning the need for a new forum to look at emergency department overcrowding.

Fergal Hickey is based at Sligo Regional Hospital and believes health service management already knows the answers to the ongoing problem.

Nurses say it should be declared a national emergency, amid worsening reports from Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.

Meanwhile Liam Duffy, the chief executive of Beaumont Hospital, told Newstalk yesterday that more than 100 patients in the hospital are "requiring home care packages or places in nursing homes".

"There aren't beds in the community. North Dublin has one of the lowest numbers of nursing homes, both in the public and private sector so accessing these beds is quite difficult. People have to wait a number of weeks and months to access the beds."

"There's been very little planning in these areas in recent years," he added.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar announced yesterday that a national forum would look at the issue next week, promising that overcrowding would ease in coming days:

Dr Hickey told Newstalk Breakfast that a lot of the facts are already out there.