Mullingar Hospital experiencing an influx of patients to its Emergency Department

The Emergency Department in Mullingar Hospital is experience a high attendance over the past number of days, as patients arrive with a range of healthcare needs.

The hospital has, this morning, released a statement notifying people to this fact and asking patients to think about all treatment and care options before arriving to ED, due to a possible long waiting time.

"Regional Hospital Mullingar’s ED and hospital is very busy. The hospital has admitted a lot of seriously ill patients over the weekend with a variety of complex healthcare needs," read the statement.

"We apologise for the distress or inconvenience caused to patients or their loved ones who are experiencing long wait times. The Full Capacity Protocol has been implemented our consultants are doing additional ward rounds to facilitate discharges and we are working with the community to discharge patients where it is appropriate to the community.

"We are asking people to think about all their care and treatment options, the length of time you may be waiting in ED should you not require urgent care and we would ask that people keep our ED services for the patients who need them most.

"However, if you are seriously injured or ill the ED will assess and treat you as a priority," the statement concluded.