A chara, – Your report about the number of same day discharges following attendance at an emergency department suggests that this is another area where the HSE may be trying to present a favourable impression of its performance ("30 per cent of admitted patients discharged within 24 hours is 'crazy'", News, February 24th).
My wife was brought by ambulance to the emergency department of a major Dublin hospital on the evening of Sunday, February 2nd. The hospital records show that she was admitted on Wednesday, February 5th. If she hadn’t acquired an infection during the three nights she spent on a trolley in the emergency department she too may have been a same-day discharge. A great way of reducing the length-of-stay statistics. – Yours, etc,
JOHN HEARN,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.