Almost 90,000 ‘did not waits’ left A&E before treatment in 2019

Many people who would be better served by GPs, pharmacists and minor injury units turn up in A&E instead, says the HSE

More than one in ten patients left without being treated in some hospitals

Nearly 90,000 patients walked out of hospital emergency departments without having their medical treatment completed last year.

The so-called “did not waits” made up almost 7 per cent of all presentations to A&Es at the country’s main hospitals, with the figures well above 10 per cent in some hospitals.

At Tallaght Hospital in Dublin, for example, nearly one in seven patients left without having been officially discharged. At St James’ Hospital in Dublin 8, the ...