ICU nurses at University Hospital Limerick will soon be balloted for industrial action.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says this vote will take place in the next couple of weeks.
The INMO says hospital management hasn’t taken appropriate steps to address staffing shortages.
Today there are 104 patients without a bed at the hospital which serves North Tipp, Limerick and Clare.
Meanwhile Tipperary University Hospital in Clonmel has 10 people being cared for on trolleys.
Nationally 606 patients who have been admitted to hospital are without a bed.
