It is the second time in recent months the shortage of staff at the Drogheda hospital has been criticised.

A confidential report from the Irish Committee on Higher Medical Training (ICHMT) expresses "major concern"' about the "real safety issues" involved in having only one paediatric registrar and one senior house officer on duty in the hospital out of hours.

In January, the Royal College of Physicians (RCPI) warned that the hospital hadn't enough doctors in its department of medicine to ensure patients are not at risk.

It pointed out that demand for services at the hospital is equal to a major Dublin hospital such as St James's, the largest hospital in the state.

The criticisms from both medical organisations come following inspections carried out at the hospital last October.

Two paediatric doctors on duty in the hospital from 10pm to 8am are expected to provide medical treatment for babies and children in the accident and emergency unit, the paediatric ward and the maternity and neonatal units.

"Children's doctors working in the Lourdes have said they believe they are too stretched. Our concern is that if an emergency arises in any of our different departments, they are too many things to juggle, " one doctor explained.

The ICHMT report said:

"the view of the inspection team is that these safety issues are real. The paediatric consultants and hospital management representatives have agreed this is the case."

The Royal College of Physicians has also written to the HSE saying doctors at both junior and consultant level in the Drogheda hospital's medical unit are overworked. The RCPI called for "immediate action to address the urgent deficits". The RCPI wants five more consultants and a "significant" number of junior doctors to be appointed in Drogheda.

The ICHMT report recommended that a senior paediatrician be appointed to provide on-call service for the hospital's emergency department, separate to those covering its neonatal and paediatric wards.

Responding to the staffing criticisms, a HSE spokesperson said: "we are working on a number of proposals on how best to address the issues raised by the RCPI in relation to the Lourdes hospital." She added that "hospital management is working with consultant staff to agree a plan to address the issues raised in the paediatric report".