Doctors working in Emergency Departments (EDs) have expressed concern about the high number of admitted hospital patients who are being left waiting on trolleys.

According to the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM), there have been over 500,000 attendances at EDs so far this year, ‘and it is likely that by year end, that number will overtake the 1,246,110 attendances of 2017'.

It noted that on June 6, which was a ‘sunny summer morning', 430 admitted patients were waiting on trolleys. The summer used to be a traditionally quiet time for EDs, however in recent years, this has changed and these departments are now busy all year round.

The IAEM pointed out that in 2017, there were 337,854 admissions to hospitals from EDs, with most of these ‘waiting prolonged periods for access to too few beds'.

It insisted that the number needing a hospital bed this year will be even bigger.

"The HSE figures tell us that so far in 2018, 36% of patients spent more than six hours in an ED. The target is 10%, but hardly any acute hospital ever meets this.

"The Bed Capacity Report has detailed the thousands more hospital beds Ireland needs. At the very least, several hundred new beds must be opened and staffed by September," the association said.

It also emphasised that more staff are needed ‘to ensure that elective care is not decimated again this year by the competing pressure of emergency admissions'.

It said that if beds and staff numbers do not increase, the country will be facing into ‘another appalling year for patients needing acute inpatient care'.

"The country and its leaders have been distracted by other health-related problems, but the need for emergency care and the lack of inpatient beds has not gone away. Where and when are the new hospital beds opening and are they going to be staffed?" the association asked.