AB130. SOH23ABS_102. Waiting times in the emergency department from triage to discharge or referral to another team

Background: Waiting times in Irish hospital have become a major issue in later times. It frequently appears on the news causing distress on the population. The focus on the blame is given to doctors. The purpose of this audit was to evaluate whether that assumption was true, whether the patient was handled in less than 6 h since he requested assistance and where did the patient spend the time since he is triaged to when he is either referred or discharged.

Methods: Retrospective data of aletoric selection of patients who presented to the emergency department (ED) of South Tipperary University Hospital from September to August 2021 were collected. Data was collected using the times documented on the patient’s charts.

Results: A total of 55 patients were collected. Total mean time spent in the ED department from the admission to discharge or referral to other department was 3 h and 39 min. In that time the patient spent half of the time under the care of a doctor. 58% of the patients who were analysed were discharged from the hospital and were handled entirely by the ED.

Conclusions: Although the patient spends an important amount of time waiting to be attended, that is not only because of the responsibility of the ED. There are other aspects (triage, assessment by other relevant bodies like the medical team or surgery team) that need to be assessed to improve waiting times of the patient who attend the hospital for an emergency.

Keywords: Emergency; hours; times; triage; waiting