'Deeply alarming': Emergency department wait times in Kildare called out

Hospital emergency department wait times in County Kildare, as well as wait times in other counties, have been called out by a TD.

Sinn Féin TD for Kildare South, Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh, has said that new Health Service Executive (HSE) figures expose the continuing crisis in Ireland’s emergency departments, with almost 28,000 patients spending more than 24 hours in emergency departments during the first six months of this year.

In addition, almost 59,000 are leaving emergency departments without being seen.

The figures, which were released by the HSE in response to a Parliamentary Question which was submitted by Sinn Féin, show that between January and June 2026:

• 27,791 patients spent more than 24 hours in an emergency department, and that 9,474 of these patients were aged 75 years or over
• 58,594 patients left emergency departments without being seen
• More than 10,000 patients left without being seen in both May and June alone

Speaking about the newly-released information, Deputy Ní Raghallaigh referred to the figures as being ‘deeply alarming’.

The Deputy also asserted that the figures ‘should concern everyone’.

The Kildare Town-based representative explained: “In just six months, almost 28,000 patients were left waiting in emergency departments for more than 24 hours.

“In Naas General Hospital, the average waiting time is 13 hours, with over 75's waiting over 15 hours on average.

“1,400 left the Kildare hospital emergency room before they were seen at all; this is not good enough.”

Deputy Ní Raghallaigh continued: “These figures represent sick people, many of them older and vulnerable patients, who were left waiting for more than a full day for the care and hospital bed they needed.

“At the same time, almost 59,000 patients left emergency departments without being seen; that is an extraordinary number of people walking away without receiving the assessment or treatment they came for.”

CONSEQUENCES

She also said that older people in Kildare and beyond are being hit ‘particularly hard’ by wait times: “Almost 9,500 patients aged 75 years and over spent more than 24 hours in an emergency department during the first half of this year.

“Staff working in our emergency departments are doing everything they can under enormous pressure; they cannot compensate for years of government failure to deliver enough hospital beds, step-down beds, community services and properly staffed alternatives to emergency departments.

“In 2024, the Government published a comprehensive hospital bed expansion plan which promised almost 3,000 net additional acute hospital beds by 2031.

“However, the government did not provide the full capital funding required to deliver that plan; the Government announced the beds but did not put a credible, fully funded delivery programme behind them.

“On the current trajectory, the plan will not be delivered.”

Deputy Ní Raghallaigh elaborated: “This failure has consequences; it means patients remaining on trolleys, older people waiting more than 24 hours for admission, cancelled procedures and overcrowded emergency departments.

“Emergency department overcrowding is not simply a winter problem or the result of occasional surges in demand.

“It is a permanent capacity crisis which now exists throughout the year.”

PLAN SOUGHT

The Deputy further said that the government ‘must fully fund and accelerate the hospital bed plan’.

“It must also invest in step-down beds, home support, community care and the workforce required to open and safely staff additional capacity,” she added.

Deputy Ní Raghallaigh concluded by claiming: “Without urgent action, patients and frontline healthcare workers will continue to pay the price for the government’s failure to properly plan, fund and expand our health service.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.