The A&E Department is facing a "chronic" staff shortage.
Patients are waiting an average of 10 to 12 hours at a midlands hospital.
That's according to Laois Labour councillor Marie Tuohy, who also says Portlaoise A&E Department is under severe pressure as it is experiencing "chronic" staff shortages.
Figures from Sinn Féin show that over 1,000 patients left the EDs in Portlaoise and Tullamore, between January and March 2023, without being treated.
Councillor Tuohy says resources are key to solving the issues:
Meanwhile, Deputy Brian Stanley raised the issue of delayed discharge from hospitals in the Dáil.
The Laois Offaly TD says there is a need to address capacity issues in local Emergency Departments and for more step-down beds and the expansion of homecare services.
He says "the reality is we have 888,000 people on hospital waiting lists, record waiting times, record numbers of people leaving emergency departments without treatment. We got the figures this week on it."
He also says "In Portlaoise, between January and March this year, we lost 671 bed days due to the delayed discharges compared with 506 for the same period in 2021. It has become worse because we do not have the step-down and community care services. The situation in Portlaoise has deteriorated. While the bed days lost in the same period in Tullamore have shown a reduction over the two years, which we welcome, there are still 428 days lost in that three-month period. That is too many days lost.’’
He believes these figures underline the ongoing scandal of the 12 step-down beds that were supposed to be delivered in the Abbeyleix Hospital and that are still not opened. He raised the issue with Bernard Gloster, the Chief Executive Officer of the HSE, recently and says he impressed on him the importance of doing this.
He insists that the health services can be fixed but it needs a Government and a Minister with the political will to do so.
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