The number of patients who registered in the emergency department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital but left before they were attended to has soared in recent years.
Figures made available to Aontu TD Peadar Tobin by the HSE show that the problem is increasing year on year from 3,210 4 in 2017 to 8,436 last year.
Drogheda Hospital campaign says that our Lady of Lourdes Hospital had one of the highest number of people leaving the Emergency Department without being seen.
They say that it is “staggering” that 8,436 people felt ill enough to attend the A&E but left before they were seen.
Spokesperson for the campaign Michael O’Dowd said that, while there would have been a variety of reasons for this, it is inevitable that the frustration of long waits led to such walk outs.
“Drogheda has seen huge overcrowding problem over the winter months and it’s indisputable that staff shortages, lack of step down care and under resourced A&E departments has led to such a situation” he said.
“The HSE accept that once a person registers with the hospital that they are seeking care and the fact that they subsequently walk away without that help is an indictment of the system.
“The ‘did not waits’ as the HSE classifies them, are just another symptom , along with those on trolleys, of a health system that is underfunded and is failing a significant number of sick people despite the trojan efforts of committed staff.
“The soaring figures over the past two years in particular shows exactly the pressure staff are under.”
