OVER 105,000 PEOPLE left hospital emergency departments last year without being seen to.

The figures were released by the HSE in response to a Parliamentary Question from Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane.

Last year, some 105,661 people left the emergency department without being seen.

The issue was most pronounced at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, where 14,061 people left the hospital’s emergency department last year without being seen.

This was followed by Tallaght University Hospital, where the figure for last year was 9,234.

Cullinane remarked that the figures are “truly shocking” and added that “the crisis in our hospitals is going from bad to worse”.

He said that last year also saw, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), around 122,000 patients treated on hospital trolleys.

“We also saw 20,000 more hospital cancellations than the previous year,” said Cullinane.

“Patients are leaving early without being seen; patients are being admitted in record numbers without a bed; and elective procedures are being cancelled on a daily basis,” he added.

Cullinane called on the government to “get real about the recruitment crisis across our health service, deliver the 5,000 hospital beds that are needed, fund 2,000 additional community beds to help speed up discharges and build the elective only hospitals as a matter of urgency”.

Meanwhile, INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that it is “extremely worrying that over 105,000 left emergency departments without being seen last year”.

“Coupled with the fact that over 122,186 patients were on trolleys over the course of the year, it shows that high volumes of very sick people are being cared for in a very undignified manner,” she added.

She noted that 503 patients were waiting for a bed in hospitals around the country this morning, according to the INMO’s figures.

“Unfortunately, emergency departments are increasingly becoming the first port of call for many sick people,” said Ní Sheaghdha.

“If we are to truly realise the core tenets of Sláintecare, the expansion of diagnostic services within our communities must be prioritised.

She added that this is “not just a winter or seasonal problem”.

“The time for merely commenting on the situation, that is getting worse year on year, is over.

“The HSE and Minister for Health must outline what steps they are planning to take to tackle unsafe emergency departments.”