A&E crisis - Treating the ill or massaging the statistics?

The deliberate manipulation of statistics can lead to enormous confusion.

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics,” according to a famous quote, attributed most often to nineteenth century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, but also ascribed to several other thinkers, politicians and even a famous naval commander.

Equally confusing is the growing discrepancy in the figures produced by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) in relation to the number of patients languishing on trolleys in Accident and Emergency departments around the country.