The Health Minister is pleading with people to get the flu vaccine.
The HSE is predicting 15-hundred people could be in hospital with flu at Christmas.
Meanwhile 701 patients were waiting on trolleys at Cork University Hospital this month.
HSE South West is reminding people in Cork to consider all their options before attending busy emergency departments this winter.
Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill says this year's flu strain is already taking its toll on the health service:
"The flu season is hitting, we have 350 people in hospital with the flu. Can I just beg everyone if you haven't had the flu vaccine please go and get it."
