11 hours in A&E: Hospital in Kildare ranked as having second longest ED wait times

New figures released by the Health Service Executive (HSE) show that Naas General Hospital has the second longest Emergency Department (ED) wait times in the country.

The data, which was provided to Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD in response to a recent parliamentary question he submitted, shows that the length of time a person waits to be seen in emergency departments in Ireland now averages seven hours, which is one hour longer than a decade ago.

The highest ED waiting time was seen in Tallaght University Hospital (12.6 hours), while the lowest ED waiting time was seen at St Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny (3.6 hours).

In the context of Kildare, the latest figure related to Naas General Hospital shows that the average wait time is 11.4 hours, an increase from 10.6 hours last year.

Responding to Deputy Tóibín’s request, the HSE sent out a letter to the Meath-based politician.

In the letter, which has been seen by the Leinster Leader, the HSE told Deputy Tóibín that its Business Information Unit had advised that information on the average wait time to be seen is not collected centrally.

The HSE added: "However, information on the average Patient Experience Time (PET) is collected and PET is the length of time a patient spends in an ED from the time they register in an ED until they are discharged to a hospital bed or discharged home.

"It therefore does not describe the time a patient is waiting to be seen, but the total time they spend in ED. The data is recorded by an average of the time in hours."

Speaking specifically about the cause of the delays, the HSE said: "There are many reasons that result in longer wait times, such as volume of patients presenting to the ED and the requirement to prioritise.

"This can mean that patients with less serious illnesses and conditions may need to wait longer for their treatment."

The HSE further said: "Many people, whose clinical needs could be more appropriately addressed by self-care, pharmacists, GPs, GP Out of Hours Services and Injury Units, continue to attend EDs."

CONDITIONS

For additional context, the HSE also noted a number of conditions attached to the figures.

• Our Lady's Hospital Navan data available from December 17, 2017.
• St Michael's Hospital data available from January 1, 2018.
• During Covid-19, CHI Tallaght closed their ED department from close of business on Friday, March 27, 2020 and reopened on September 3, 2020.
• Data gaps due to the Cyber-Attack in 2021 — Connolly Hospital from May 13 to June 30 and Naas General Hospital from May 15 to July 6 and July 8 to July 15.
• Mater Misericordiae University Hospital resubmitted data from 2023 to March 2025, as they excluded Smithfield Injury Unit data from their ED extract.
• Data provided up to March 2025.

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