According to new figures released to Aontú TD for Mayo, Paul Lawless, more patients than ever before were either admitted or discharged from the Emergency Department in Castlebar last year.
The figures show that in 2025 some 14,350 patients were admitted to the hospital via the Emergency Department, while 30,901 were discharged from ED. So far this year 7,501 have been admitted and 15,881 discharged.
Speaking today, Deputy Lawless said: “These figures show that Mayo’s ED dealt with more patients last year than ever before. The increase in demand for the hospital – in particular for the emergency department – should be met with significant investment by the government. Hospital capacity – be in terms of bed numbers, staffing levels and so on needs to be constantly increasing in tandem with the number of patients presenting. Previous figures released to me show that in February of this year, 752 patients in Mayo University Hospital’s Emergency Department waited more than nine hours to be either discharged or admitted. Nine of those patients waited more than 24 hours. That is scandalous”.
Deputy Lawless continued: “Since 2017 roughly half a million people across the country have left emergency departments without being seen. So the true number of patients presenting in Mayo is likely underreported, because so many walk out without being seen. We also have a serious problem with the lack of availability in terms of primary care (out of hours) services and indeed challenges in terms of access to GP services etc. The government need to prioritise these issues as a means of reducing pressures in MUH, especially on the emergency department”
