Emergency departments in Ireland saw a record number of 29,000 patients last week.
That's according to the HSE who is encouraging people no to make unnecessary visits to hospitals this bank holiday weekend.
Of those who attended EDs less than half were actually admitted for further care.
National advisor for acute hospitals Mike O'Connor, is asking people to consider all healthcare options when seeking treatment:
"This is the time of the year where people should be out enjoying themselves and that's the most important message from a wellbeing point of view. This time last year, we were in COVID territory. So we want to make people just aware that if they are looking for non-emergency or non-urgent care to look at other options like local Injury Units, or their General Practitioner or the Out-Of-Hours General Practitioner services".
