No sanction for hospitals that fail to meet A&E targets

Hospitals who ignore targets to reduce emergency department waiting times will face no sanction despite a promised crackdown by the health minister.

Leo Varadkar vowed there will be “zero tolerance” of anyone waiting over 24 hours on a trolley in a hospital emergency department.

He said leaving patients languishing on trolleys for more than a day will be a “reportable event” as he announced the Government was allocating €74m to deal with hospital overcrowding.