Tallaght University Hospital has longest waiting times in Ireland, stats show

Sinn Féin spokesperson for Dublin, Mark Ward TD, has highlighted that Tallaght University Hospital has an average A&E wait time of over 12 hours, a 50% increase since 2015.

This dubious record means that Tallaght University Hospital has the longest waiting time in the state.

Deputy Ward was speaking following a PQ response issued to his party colleague Pa Daly TD.

“Tallaght is my local hospital, and it is scandalous that people are waiting over 12 hours in A&E”, he said.

“No one turning up to A&E should be waiting half a day to be seen.

“Looking at the figures released in the PQ response waiting times are getting worse Tallaght, under  the various Ministers for Health.”

The Dublin Mid-West TD said “we have a GP shortage in the area, with people left with no place to turn to other than their local hospital.”

The Sinn Féin TD said that his party would put a dent in the crisis, stating that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will not.

“While the government very clearly do not have a plan, Sinn Féin does.”

“Sinn Féin have set out a comprehensive policy to increase bed capacity within hospitals, but we have also laid out our plan to strengthen our local health services to take the pressure off our hospitals,” he explained.

“These include public GP contracts, delivering a Pharmacy First model for minor ailments and the expansion of primary care; these are the solutions to reducing waiting times in A&Es across the state.”

“We only have our local Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs to thank for this failure, their support for successive governments has enabled this disaster to become the norm,” he remarked.

“The people of Dublin Mid-West and South Dublin deserve better than 12 hours waiting in accident and emergency, they have been waiting too long for a change, and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have not been able to deliver this.”