Seriously ill patients attending three Irish hospitals have to wait at least a day on average before being admitted, new figures show.
Patients attending Mercy hospital in Cork this winter had to wait an average of 25.3 hours before being admitted, according to the HSE. The figure for Cork University Hospital was 24.5 hours, and for Tallaght, 23.9 hours.
More than 32,000 patients have had to wait at least 24 hours for a hospital bed this winter, including over 7,000 since Christmas.
Despite an improvement in hospital overcrowding since trolley numbers peaked at the start of January, 1,014 patients were left waiting more than 24 hours for a bed last week alone.
The Irish Times is reporting that in contrast, just 27 patients were left waiting for over a day in St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny; 44 in Portiuncula hospital, Ballinasloe; and 82 in University Hospital Waterford.
Beaumont Hospital in Dublin had the most breaches of the nine-hour target for seeing over-75s this winter at 3,038. At St Vincent’s University Hospital, 2,705 older patients were not seen within the target time; and at Sligo University Hospital, there were 2,635 breaches of the target.
CUH has had the highest trolley numbers this winter with a daily average of 34.7, followed by Galway University Hospitals at 32. University Hospital Waterford recorded no trolleys.
The ED in the Mater hospital has been the busiest this winter with 38,900 attendances. Sligo University Hospital has seen the biggest increase in attendances with a 68 per cent rise since the winter of 2019/20.
