Nearly 13,500 elderly patients have spent longer than 24 hours waiting for a hospital bed in Emergency Departments so far this year.

Figures from the HSE show 13,466 patients over the age of 75 were left waiting on trolleys and chairs between January and the first week of November.

The figures provided to Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly mark a 35% increase on last year.

Deputy Donnelly said the lack of Government action on the issue makes him think they just don't care.

“We had a case recently of a 74-year-old woman who spent 72 hours on a trolley,” he said.

“She was found on the floor screaming in pain with a broken hip following an assault by a drunken patient.

“The conditions and the healthcare available for elderly men and women, and indeed for everyone else in emergency, is completely unacceptable.

“We have never seen anything like this in Ireland before; nothing like this happens around the rest of Europe.”

The HSE said the number of older people presenting at Emergency Departments is increasing faster than the overall increase in the general population.

It said older people presenting at Emergency Departments are much more likely to be admitted into hospital and will stay twice as long as the general average.

It said that, as a result, “a higher number of patients waiting are in the older persons category and particularly in the greater than 75 years category.”