According to latest figures published by the Health Service Executive there were almost 6,000 people over the age 75 forced to wait longer than 24 hours in a hospital emergency departments across the country in the first half of 2017.
The alarming statistics which come less than a day after the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation revealed that the current overcrowding crisis at the nations hospitals is getting worse with more than 400 hundred patients waiting on trolleys on Wednesday.
The findings have now led to many in the health service to call for more to be done, with many criticising the HSE who previously stated that those aged over 75 would be discharged or admitted to an emergency department within 24 hours of registration.
However figures which were obtained by Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher have scandalously found that so far this year, 5,880 people over the age of 75 were forced to waiting longer than what the HSE previously stated.
Speaking about the situation Mr Kelleher told RTE’s Morning Ireland programme that the 24-hour target is “pathetic” and it has “set the bar way too low”.
He added: ” I fully understand that all hospitals are under pressure but that the issue needs to be urgently addressed.”
“The targets set are not being met… and it has got worse in the intervening years. Even their target, which lacks ambition and probably compassion and they can’t even meet that target,”