‘Whereabouts of patients in A&E often unknown’

Doctors are not always able to keep track of where seriously ill patients are located at one of the busiest emergency units in the country because of the number of people being treated.

The situation was revealed in a confidential audit of Beaumont Hospital, which warned that unless action is taken, patients’ lives could be lost.

Among the conclusions of the document, obtained by trade newspaper The Medical Independent, drawn up last July at the request of James Reilly, the health minister, are that patients are effectively going missing while waiting for care and others are waiting hours for help.