It has emerged that in the month of January 1,700 surgical procedures were cancelled at Irish hospitals.
The cancellations concerned resulted from the emergency department crisis that gripped many hospitals in the country.
1,044 of these were inpatient cases and 711 were day cases.
The cancellation of these procedures is continuing however with the number of people on trolleys or awaiting beds at hospitals reaching 557 this morning.
Yesterday University Hospital Limerick had to cancel a number of procedures at other hospitals in the Mid West Group.
