8% of patients leave Mayo emergency unit without getting treatment

Up to eight per cent of patients who presented at the emergency unit of Mayo University Hospital last year did not wait for treatment.

The figure has been presented to Councillor Michael Kilcoyne at today's meeting of the HSE West Forum.

A total of 39,121 attendances were recorded at the Castlebar facility during 2022. . .but 2,139 left without receiving treatment.

It is understood the main reason patients leave the unit is because they are left waiting too long.

Tony Canavan, chief executive officer of the Saolta University Health Care Group, said when a patient leaves the emergency unit where an episode of care is not completed, a process is in place to follow up.

"The patient is contact. If this is not successful, the patient's next of kin is contacted," he stated.

Mayo University Hospital registered 55,715 in-patients last year and 131 of them self-discharged, Councillor Kilcoyne was informed.