The Health Service Executive said tonight it deeply regrets the discomfort and indignity suffered by patients in A&E departments.
The Health Service Executive said tonight it deeply regrets the discomfort and indignity suffered by patients in A&E departments.
In a statement issued in response to Prime Time Investigatesprogramme broadcast on RTE tonight the HSE said "We deeply regret the discomfort and indignity that is sometimes suffered by patients in our hospitals' A&E Departments. Addressing these difficulties is our top priority."
"We believe that no patient should have to wait unduly in A&E Departments for hospital admission and that is unacceptable for anybody to be waiting more than 24 hours. Our target is for no patient to be waiting longer than six hours and for all patients to be afforded privacy and dignity."
The statement adds that "most of our A&E Departments are functioning well" and do not experience admission difficulties thanks to the tremendous dedication of hospital staff.
"The peak experienced in numbers attending at some of our A&E Departments across the country in the first three months of this year was unprecedented. The overall number was up 10 per cent on the same period last year."
The statement concludes "Comparing May last year (2005) to May this year (to date) there has been a drop of almost 16 per cent in the numbers waiting for admission."