Nearly 90,000 patients left hospital emergency departments without completing their medical treatment last year. The so-called “did not waits” made up almost 7% of all presentations to A&Es at the country’s main hospitals, with the figures well above 10% in some hospitals.

In Dublin’s Tallaght Hospital, nearly one in seven patients left without having been officially discharged. At St James’s Hospital in Dublin, the rate for “did not waits” was even higher with about one in six patients leaving before completing treatment.

At the Mater Hospital about 14% of presenting at A&E left without completing their treatment. The HSE said many people still attended emergency departments whose clinical needs could be more appropriately addressed by pharmacists, GPs, or minor injury units.

It said this left