Two elderly patients have been waiting for admission to the emergency department of the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) in Belfast for more than five days, according to BBC News NI.

This comes after more than 500 patients could not be discharged from the hospital on Sunday night despite being medically fit.

With no appropriate care for them in the community, they remained bedridden, preventing other sick people from being admitted to hospital wards.

On Sunday, more than 400 people who came to emergency departments across Northern Ireland were told they would have to wait at least 12 hours for a hospital bed.

The Health Department said long-term solutions require continued investment and improvement.

At the RVH on Monday, BBC News NI heard that a man with flu was being treated in a disused tea room.

Three other people have been in the same area for four days.

Emergency department head nurse Claire Wilmont said staff were “treating the most vulnerable elderly terminally ill patients in an unbearable environment”.

“We’re dealing with really elderly, vulnerable and really sick patients at the moment and with the rising levels of flu, we’re really struggling to care for people,” said Nurse Wilmont.

He said the staff was stretched on a daily basis.

“Staff are trying their best, but there are delays and care can be very challenging at times,” she said.

The current cold wave and flu figures in Northern Ireland are still at their peak, so the health service is bracing itself for a tough week.

Some people working over the weekend told BBC News NI that long waits were a cause for concern – as delays put some patients at risk of harm.

An emergency department (ED) consultant said it was outrageous that corridor care had become “almost normal” in emergency medicine.

Another said the predicted Christmas spike would not change unless attention was paid to social care in Northern Ireland.

Health unions have told BBC News NI that although the flu spike was widely predicted, little was done on the ground to address the inevitable.

Among the possible scenarios being discussed by staff was the involvement of the military during December and January for additional support in wards and ambulatory care.

It also suggested that the health regulator, RQIA, should be more flexible about rules in nursing homes that require residents to be sent to an ED rather than receiving care in-home.

To help reduce the spread of infections, including flu, many hospitals in England Hospital visits are restricted And patients and visitors are asked to wear face masks to prevent further spread of the flu.

The cold conditions will put the system under even greater pressure and the public will be urged to remain cautious and perhaps think twice about venturing out.

Figures seen by BBC News NI show the number of people waiting more than 12 hours on Sunday evening was:

• 61 at Craigavon ​​Area Hospital
• 51 in Antrim Area Hospital
• 49 at the Royal Victoria Hospital
• Ulster Hospital 48
• 42 at Altnagelvin Hospital
• Causeway Hospital 35
• 24 Daisy Hill Hospital
• 21 at Mater Informorum Hospital
• 19 at South Western Acute Hospital

According to the Health Department, long-term solutions require continued investment and improvement.

A spokesperson said the demand for care currently exceeds the capacity of the health service to provide.

The statement said that in recent days, the Health Minister had met with emergency department staff, and had discussions with both the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

“The Minister has shared his serious concerns about the impact of the enormous pressure on staff and patients and will follow up on this in the coming weeks,” the spokesperson said.

The vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Northern Ireland has said it is “impossible” to manage the number of patients attending emergency departments.

The 12-hour wait for a bed was probably a “conservative estimate,” he said.

“Every department in this country will tell you that patients are waiting three or four days,” he said.

“We are in the worst situation we have ever seen, with respect to today’s headlines, for emergency medical workers, we knew this was going to happen, it doesn’t surprise us because this has been the trend for a long time.

“There is no physical location to bring people to get evaluated.”

Dr Nicola Heron, a Londonderry-based GP, said the decline in vaccine uptake had driven a rise in respiratory infections.

“Then inevitably in years where there is poor uptake, we see a huge increase in respiratory tract infections, coughs, colds, flu, and the added concern of something like Covid this year… flu appears to be prominent this year Is,” he told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) said it is not too late for people to get a flu vaccine as cases have peaked, and this will protect the public and the health service well beyond the winter months.

“We are in the middle of our winter virus season,” Dr. Joan McClellan said. BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

“All year long our hospitals and EDs are really busy, and during the winter, in addition to the normal pressures, we get winter viruses, primarily COVID, flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).”

One possible reason for this may be that “people have forgotten that flu can be a very serious illness,” Dr. McLean said.

“We need to update our flu vaccine every year because the flu changes every year.”