St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny leads the way following figures released by the Minister for Health

St Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny had the greatest reduction in the number of patients on trolleys in the South East in the first five months of this year.

The local hospital recorded a reduction of 55% in that period followed by Tipperary University Hospital at 37%.

In figures released by Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, South East and Dublin hospital Emergency Departments recorded 24% fewer patients waiting on trolleys for the first five months of 2024, meaning there were 2,000 fewer patients waiting on trolleys at 8am across these hospitals compared to the same period last year.

Nationally, the number of patients on trolleys in the first five months of the year is down 14% compared to the same period last year. This meant there were 7,800 fewer patients waiting for hospital beds at 8am nationally. The improved national performance happened despite 62,000 more patients presented to emergency departments compared to last year.

Meanwhile, the number of patients aged 75 years and over, waiting long period in Emergency Departments reduced by 20%.

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Today (Wednesday), there are four patients waiting for a trolley in the emergency department at St Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny today and a further eight patients waiting on the ward.

Nationally, there are 330 patients waiting for beds and a further 115 patients waiting on the wards.

That's according to the daily INMO Trolley Watch Survey.