New figures for University Hospital Waterford show a mixed picture for the hospital, with performance against several emergency department waiting-time measures better than the national average.

However, almost 2,000 patients left the Emergency Department without being seen during the first six months of this year.

Figures released by the HSE following a parliamentary question from Waterford TD David Cullinane show that 72 per cent of patients at University Hospital Waterford completed their emergency department attendance within six hours, compared with 57 per cent nationally. No patients at the Waterford hospital were recorded as waiting more than 24 hours during the period.

However, 1,911 patients left the Emergency Department without being seen between January and June.

The monthly figure also increased during the period, rising from 225 in January to 400 in June.

Deputy Cullinane says the figures present a mixed picture for University Hospital Waterford.

He has acknowledged that the hospital is performing better than the national average across a number of key emergency department measures, while also raising concerns about the number of people leaving without receiving treatment.

Deputy Cullinane says the figures come as University Hospital Waterford continues to deal with increasing demand and a growing population across the South East.

The figures are based on the first six months of 2026 and were provided by the HSE in response to Deputy Cullinane’s parliamentary question.

The latest figures come shortly after the introduction of 24-hour emergency cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford, which began in July following years of campaigning for the service.

The figures also raise questions about ambulance response times in Waterford and the wider South East. HSE figures for the Dublin and South East region, which includes Waterford, show that the proportion of Purple calls reached within 19 minutes fell from 76.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 to 70 per cent in the same period this year, while Red-call performance fell from 44.7 per cent to 39.9 per cent.

However, the average Category 1 response time in the region actually improved from 24 minutes to 23 minutes, and the HSE has not provided a county-by-county breakdown for Waterford.