According To New Figures Over 70,000 People Leave ED's Before Finishing Treatment

Thursday, 22 October 2026 at 08:59

By Emma O'Connor

The Data was released to Social Democrats TD Padraig Rice.

Tens of thousands of people are leaving emergency department's before being discharged, according to new figures.

Data released to Social Democrats TD Padraig Rice shows over 70,000 people left an Emergency Department without finishing their treatment in the first seven months of this year.

70,124 people left an ED before being discharged from January to the end of July this year.

In Naas General Hospital, over 20,000 people left within 24hours in the first seven months of the year.

15,354 left within 9 hours, and 11,715 people left within the first 6 hours of waiting in Naas before being told to do so.

The Mater Hospital and St. James Hospital in Dublin had the most amount of people opting to leave early.

Although the reason behind the decision wasn't given by patients, its being put down to long wait times in most cases- with figures showing nearly 32,000 people who attended an ED up until July of this year waited more than 24 hours to get a bed or be discharged.

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