Child patients sharing A&E facilities with adults

Child patients attending emergency departments in hospitals around the country are being forced to share facilities with adult emergency patients.

This is despite a new HSE charter on children's hospital care which said patients should be separated.

A recent audit of hospitals outside Dublin found that only six out of 17 hospitals had separate waiting areas in emergency departments, leaving children open to seeing very ill or drunk patients.

Niall Hunter, editor of IrishHealth.com, who saw the report, has said it's critical of two hospitals in particular, Limerick Regional Hospital and University Hospital Galway.