DOZENS OF BEDS LYING EMPTY IN ARMY HOSPITALS

>> HSE crisis continues with 535 left on trolleys >> Nurses strike fears as wards sit vacant

- FERGHAL BLANEY

DOZENS of hospital beds are lying empty in shuttered military hospitals while the country battles an overcrowding crisis and nurses contemplate strike action.

The HSE yesterday warned the flu season had "yet to peak" and the situation that has seen hundreds of sick people lying on trolleys for days on end could worsen.

This is despite the Government spending hundreds of thousands of euro retooling some facilities at the start of Covid in a panic move to prepare them for reopening.

One of these was St Bricin's in Dublin city centre, which is just a stone's throw from the Mater hospital in North Dublin.

Last night, Dr Cathal Berry, independent TD and former Head of the Military Medical school with the Defence Forces, slammed the waste of spare resources in military units.