Thousands leave Tallaght University Hospital without being seen says Crowe

Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that thousands of people are leaving the emergency department at Tallaght University Hospital without being seen due to the “sheer length of delays.”

Crowe said the situation was “an indictment of the ruin that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have inflicted on the health service.”

“3,510 people walked out of the Emergency Department of Tallaght University Hospital between January and May of this year without even being seen due to the sheer length of delays.”

“People go to hospital because they need help. More people are leaving Tallaght Hospital without that help than they are in whole hospital groups in the rest of the state.”

“And it’s no wonder when the average time to be seen for over 75s was 22 hours. Leaving an elderly person on a chair in a waiting area for practically a full day should never be the norm. it should be something we are outraged could ever happen at all.

“It is no use for the Government to brag about billions of a budget surplus if we do not drive it into our public services in a meaningful, effective way that improves access for all our citizens,” he said.

“Tallaght Hospital have been pushing for a new 72-bed unit for the past six years. This Government is just too slow to realise demand and respond to it which means it is ordinary people in need of help that suffer when our frontline healthcare professionals do what they can with what little they are given.”

Sinn Féin has pressured Government on healthcare, with the party stating it is supportive of the implementation of Sláintecare but have cast doubts over how effective it could be.

Party spokesperson on health David Cullinane said in June 2022 that the plan “falls short” when it comes to tackling waiting lists at Irish hospitals and a 2017 document from the party called for the implementation of a universal healthcare system similar to the United Kingdom.

The party said at the time “hundreds of people wait on trolleys for hours on end in our accident and emergency wards every single day. They are stripped of their dignity and of their basic human right to health.”