Nurses will stage lunchtime protests at Cork and Limerick University Hospitals today.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation wants the HSE to put plans in place for the expected winter increase in the number of patients presenting at hospitals.
The union representing nurses also claims up to 2,000 vacancies are still waiting to be filled in hospitals - a figure disputed by the HSE.
Lunchtime protests took place in Galway yesterday.
Phil Ní Sheaghdha, General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, said: "There is no plan.
"The HSE didn't have any answers and they felt that the public would not be aware of the actual circumstance that they're going to be facing this winter and they felt that they had no choice but to protest in order to bring this dilemma to the attention of the public.
"We estimate that we are dealing with a health service that is working with at least 2,000 nurses short, the HSE dispute that."
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