Our hospitals are overrun every January, but this time it is different and worse than any trolley crisis.
Other years there was no deadly virus to contend with and circulating in communities, forcing hundreds of patients to intensive care and thousands of healthcare staff out of work.
Patients have gone from waiting on trolleys in corridors a year ago to last week waiting in ambulances in the hope they will eventually get in to a hospital.
Letterkenny University Hospital general manager Sean Murphy drafted an apology for patients last week who had to wait in ambulances because of pressure on staff and beds. These were not just Covid-19 patients but people with other surgical needs. Just because Covid-19 is raging it does not mean other illnesses are not occurring.