Average wait for admission to emergency department tops 11 hours

The average waiting time to enter for admission to an emergency department is more than 11 hours, according to new figures.

For many hospitals in the State, the wait is even longer. The two main hospitals in Cork, the Mercy University Hospital and Cork University Hospital, have the worst waiting times countrywide at 21.6 hours and 19.6 hours respectively during the month of May.

Tallaght had a waiting time of 18.4 hours and at St Vincent’s hospital it was 16.8 hours. Limerick was 14.7 hours, Sligo 14.3 hours and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin was 14.7 hours.

Just two hospitals in the State are fulfilling Sláintecare targets of ensuring two-thirds of those entering an emergency department are seen within six hours.

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St Luke’s in Kilkenny and Letterkenny were the only hospitals able to see more than two-thirds of emergency department admissions within six hours.

Dublin hospitals were notably poor performers. Almost two-thirds of people were waiting more than 12 hours at the Mater hospital, Tallaght, St Vincent’s and Beaumont Hospital.

Thirteen hospitals in the State had not seen a third of its emergency admissions within 12 hours.

Limerick Hospital Group has the longest average waiting time of any hospital group at nearly 15 hours.

The average wait time for Navan emergency department in May was 11 hours, almost 12 hours at Connolly hospital, 13.6 hours at the Mater, and nine hours at Drogheda hospital.

The figures were provided in a parliamentary question reply to Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane by the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

The waiting times are higher for people aged over 75 than under that age. They are higher than 15 hours at nine hospitals and more than 20 hours at three hospitals (Cork, Mercy, Limerick) for elderly people who frequently need a bed.

Mr Cullinane said urgent measures are needed to deal with the long waits in the emergency department.

Vacant consultant posts needed to be filled, the consultant contract needs to be fulfilled and pay parity issues with non-consultant hospital doctors have to be delivered, he said.

Further investment in GP out-of-hours services could also relieve the pressure on emergency departments.

The 11.2-hour figure is actually down 30 minutes on January, but those figures for waiting times were the worst in the history of the State.