WAITING 24 hours for a bed is not a thing of the past according to figures released by the HSE.

The daily “census” which records how many patients have been waiting for admission to a hospital ward each day at 2pm, shows that in 3% of cases patients wait more than 24 hours for a bed.

The figures also reveal that 39% of patients waited between 12 and 24 hours and 21% waited between six and 12 hours to be admitted.

Connolly Hospital is the only hospital in the country to have patients waiting more than 24 hours to be admitted to a ward after turning up at the emergency department.

Seven hospitals had patients waiting between six and 12 hours to be admitted, Roscommon Hospital, Our Lady’s in Navan, the Adelaide and Meath, the Mercy in Cork and Dublin’s Mater, Beaumont and Connolly hospitals.

The HSE maintains that “the vast majority of patients admitted from the Emergency Department do not wait for admission”. They say that 52% don’t wait at all for admission.

The news comes just as Dr James Reilly revealed that almost 18,000 surgeries were cancelled last year.