A record 27,000 patients in a three-month period left A&Es without getting treatment

By contrast, in 2021, nearly 76,000 people left emergency departments before being treated — just over 6,300 a month.

HSE figures show the issue is affecting hospitals all across the country, but Dublin’s Mater Hospital had the highest number of early leavers from July to September this year.

• The Mater saw more than 1,000 people leave without accessing treatment in July, followed by 996 in August, and 972 in September.
• At Tallaght University Hospital, the monthly figures were 699 for July, 697 for August, and 917 for September.
• At University Hospital Limerick, where chronic overcrowding has been a near-constant issue, 684 people left without treatment in July, while 778 left in August, and 752 in September.
• Cork University Hospital, which also has overcrowding issues, had 368 early leavers in July, 260 in August, and 292 in September.
• The Mercy University Hospital had 784 people leave without treatment over the same three-month period.

Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane, who requested the HSE figures, said they are particularly concerning, as it is unknown if the patients ever received the appropriate care.

“Long waits and overcrowded hospitals are pushing patients out without being seen,” he said.

“Patients are already waiting over 12 hours on average to be admitted to a hospital. Long waits are clearly causing hundreds of patients to leave early every month.

“The concern I have is that some of them may have serious conditions or conditions which will worsen without being seen. This is storing up problems for patients and hospitals in the future, which will lead to greater care needs and worse outcomes for patients.”

Mr Cullinane called for “better management of existing resources”, including quicker discharges, and greater use of step-down beds in community facilities.

Previous figures have shown that nearly 8% of people who attend an emergency department leave before being treated.

The HSE has also confirmed the average time taken from registration to admission to a ward in hospitals nationally was 12.8 hours in July, 12.5 hours in August, and 12.7 hours in September.

Those numbers are higher for people over the age of 75 — 15.3 hours for July, 14.8 hours for August, and 14.8 hours for September.

A HSE spokesperson said the purpose of emergency departments is to deal with “serious and unexpected illness and injury”, but that often people with less serious conditions attend EDs before leaving to get treatment elsewhere.

“It is inevitable that emergency department and their associated hospitals, whose capacity is exceeded by such demand, must clinically prioritise those who must be treated first and those who may need to wait, or attend a more appropriate care setting,” said the spokesperson.

“To ensure this process is clinically safe for patients, Irish hospitals use the internationally tested Manchester Triage Tool, which prioritises patients into a number of categories based on their clinical needs.

“Where a patient is seriously ill or injured, their needs will be prioritised above those with less serious conditions. Ideally, hospitals would be in a position to treat patients on their arrival.

“However, as demand inevitably overtakes capacity, prioritisation and consequential waiting may occur. In this regard, some patients with less serious needs may choose to avail of alternative options.”