Four-hour wait in some A&E departments

CRITICALLY ill patients are not being seen for up to four hours in some of the country’s busiest casualty departments, latest waiting time figures show.

Waterford Regional Hospital’s casualty department is one of the most time-efficient in the country, the new A&E waiting time figures for regional hospitals show.

All critical patients admitted to Waterford Regional Hospital (WRH) in the first half of this year were seen by a doctor within 10 minutes of admission. It compares very favourably to hospitals elsewhere in the country, where waiting times are three and four times longer in many cases.