UHG emergency department busiest year on record
The Emergency Department at University Hospital Galway had its busiest year on record in 2025 with an average of 237 people attending daily.
The Emergency Department at University Hospital Galway had its busiest year on record in 2025 with an average of 237 people attending daily.
A total of 86,381 people attended the ED at UHG last year, the highest number ever recorded – and a 14% increase compared with 2023.
Integrated Health Area Manager for Galway/Roscommon Ann Cosgrove said the acute city hospital – which serves the West region – had also experienced an increase in older patients presenting, especially those over 75 years of age.
She told the HSE West Regional Health Forum that this has led to a “sustained period of escalation” in recent months whereby UHG had to cancel and postpone planned surgeries because of overcrowding and a lack of beds.
The HSE issued several calls this winter urging people to seek alternatives to the ED because UHG was so busy.
“The increased attendances and emergency cases has impacted on bed capacity and as a result, some of the planned/elective procedures had to be postponed as no bed was available for the patient,” Ms Cosgrove said.
She said that UHG had a “high numbers of cancer and time sensitive urgent cases” which need to be prioritised, resulting on other less serious procedures being postponed or delayed.
Emergency cases were dealt with on a case-by-case basis, Ms Cosgrove said.
Elective surgery waiting lists have swelled in January compared with December due to the number of postponements in the New Year because of ED overcrowding.
In December, the elective waiting list stood at 30, but this had more than doubled to 75 by the end of January. This was due to a lack of beds for overnights.
The elective day case waiting list has also more than doubled from 50 in December to 122 in January.
Ms Cosgrove confirmed these figures underestimate the backlog and do not include “prior cancellation by the consultant or their team”.
She said the hospital continued to offer to outsource patients’ treatments to private hospitals via the National Treatment Purchase Fund and it was insourcing “at weekends providing additional capacity for procedures where possible”.
Cllr Donagh Killilea asked what impact postponements of elective procedures was having on waiting lists. Ms Cosgrove said nationally there had been some easing of attendances, but UHG was still very busy.