Northern Ireland’s hospitals are in a “crisis,” and it is expected to get worse, a health committee member has said.

Alliance MLA Danny Donnelly said all options should be looked at to solve the problem.

It comes as an emergency meeting involving Northern Ireland’s health minister and top health officials is due to take place after a weekend that saw hundreds of people waiting for more than 12 hours at hospital emergency departments (EDs).

The Department of Health said the minister, Mike Nesbitt, has taken the decision to “refrain from public comment” on the meeting until it has happened.

Donnelly, who has previously worked in the health service, told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme the whole system was under strain.

He said he would be asking the minister if “every resource we have available, are we using them to the best we can?”

Health committee member Diane Dodds MLA said the executive can do more and must do better.

Speaking on Good Morning Ulster, she said: “We cannot keep going in a situation where we expect every year to be in the same position, to put people through the same trauma, and still accept that this is part of what the winter brings in our health service.”

Dodds said the health minister needs to bring forward a short term and long-term plan.

“If we had a plan that we can work towards it would be a major boost for our community and for healthcare workers who are working in terrible conditions.”

BBC News NI was told on Monday that one patient with flu was being treated in an unused tea room while three others had been in the same area for four days.

The combination of a cold snap and flu season are seen as major factors driving the crunch at emergency departments.

A lack of care packages in the community is also preventing hospitals from discharging patients and opening up bed space.

More than 500 people considered medically fit were unable to be sent home from Northern Ireland’s hospitals on Sunday night.

Liz Kimmins, the chair of Stormont’s health committee, said the “rapid decline in care packages delivered over the winter period” was having a big impact.

Committee member Colin McGrath, of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), said the executive and health minister had “ignored repeated warnings” from within the health service.

The vice-chair of Northern Ireland’s Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Michael Perry, called the emergency department waits as “the worst we’ve ever seen”, adding that it was no surprise as “this has been the trend for so long”.