The Mater Hospital has reported their services are under extreme pressure and is appealing to the public to avoid its emergency department if possible.
The Dublin hospital also said that patients presenting at their ED for non-urgent care have to wait a long time to be seen. They advise patients with non-emergency conditions to seek assistance from other parts of the health service, such as minor injury units or their GP.
In a statement on Twitter, they wrote: "The Mater Hospital is again appealing to the public, where possible, to avoid its emergency department (ED). Hospital services are under extreme pressure due to the large volume of patients in the hospital. Patients who are presenting at our ED with non-urgent unfortunately experiencing lengthy waiting times to be seen.
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"Where possible, the Mater advises patients with non-emergency conditions to seek assistance from other parts of the health service such as minor injury units or their GP. However, any patient who is in need of emergency hospital care will of course be seen and the Mater would urge such patients not to delay and to seek such care. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding."
This comes as figures released by Sinn Fein revealed that 1,244 patients left the Mater in December without being admitted - a significant increase compared to 878 in December 2019.
According to the HSE’s system system known as ‘TrolleyGar’, which shows how long the patients have been waiting, there are nearly 40 people waiting to be seen at Mater's ED as of 2pm. 27 of them have been waiting longer than nine hours, while 10 of them have been waiting for more than 24 hours.
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