Hospital overcrowding may have contributed to an extra 1,200 deaths this winter

The IPA said that, if the numbers in the UK study were replicated in Ireland, as many as 1,278 of the 104,818 patients who waited longer than six hours for a bed may have died unnecessarily. Stock picture: Corbis

More than 1,200 people may have died unnecessarily in Irish hospitals this winter because of delayed treatment linked to overcrowding, it has been claimed.

Fewer than one in three people who attended emergency departments between September and late January were admitted or discharged within the target time of six hours, analysis of HSE data by the Irish Patients' Association (IPA) shows.