The Saolta Hospital group has issued a statement on the Emergency Department at Mayo University Hospital. 

It says the department is extremely busy today with significant numbers of patients awaiting admission to the hospital.

It apologises to patients and their families for the delays. 

The statement goes on to say that due to this increased level of activity over the past three weeks and subsequent admissions, the Hospital regrets that patients are experiencing significant delays in being transferred from the Emergency Department to a bed in the hospital. 

The Full Capacity Protocol has been implemented and all efforts continue to be made to identify patients who are appropriate for safe discharge. 
 
Management at the hospital would like to advise people who are attending the Emergency Department at Mayo University Hospital to expect significant delays.
 

The hospital is reminding the public that we encourage them to attend the Emergency Department only in the case of real emergencies and they should contact their GP or GP Out-of-Hours service in the first instance.