13,500 left hospital without treatment in two months

The number of patients walking out of emergency departments (ED) without being formally discharged has reached record levels.

Some 13,500 people abandoned their visit to the ED in January of 2018 and December of 2017. One in 16 patients who arrived seeking emergency medical care left without it, frustrated by lengthy queues, and either went elsewhere for treatment or went home.

The figures for those two months include 859 children, whose parents took them home without medical treatment. The HSE said there were a variety of reasons why patients might leave an emergency department, not only wait times. However, the numbers leaving without care have climbed just as waiting lists in hospitals have reached their highest levels.