Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said "good practice" must be implemented across all hospitals to ensure patients are being discharged in a timely manner, including over weekends.
Speaking to Newstalk, Mr Donnelly said weekend discharge rates must be improved to help reduce overcrowding.
On Friday morning, figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) showed there were 504 people waiting for a hospital bed.
University Hospital Limerick (UHL) was once again the most overcrowded hospital in the State, with 96 patients there waiting on trolleys.
Cork University Hospital had the second-highest number of people without a hospital bed (66), followed by University Hospital Galway (55).
Mr Donnelly said he believes weekend discharge rates are "a very good measure of the hospitals that are running seven days a week on behalf of patients", noting that UHL's rate for such discharges was the second-lowest in the country.
"Yes, we need more resource, and that resource is important and it's beginning to work, but we also have to have good practice in all the hospitals," the Minister added.
Since the start of the year, excluding New Year's Day as the trolley count was not published, UHL and CUH have noted the highest number of patients waiting on trolleys each day.
