Lengthy waiting times in emergency departments remain a problem for most patients, a new survey has found.

The 2019 National Inpatient Experience Survey shows some improvements on last year, with patients reporting more positive experiences of discharge or transfer procedures.

Questions on dignity, respect and privacy scored highly, and the majority of people gave a very positive rating of the cleanliness of rooms or wards.

But participants pointed to a number of areas to improve.

Significantly, 70% said that they were not admitted to a ward within the Health Service Executive (HSE)'s target waiting time of six hours, with 331 people waiting 48 hours or more before being admitted.

Long waiting times have been linked with negative health outcomes and pose a risk to patient safety.

Many people also said that there was not enough time to discuss their treatment with medical staff, and felt that they were not fully involved in decisions about their care or their discharge from hospital.

Rachel Flynn is director of the National Care Experience Programme: "Although the majority of patients reported positively on their time in hospital, a large number of patients did not.

"Significantly, women and younger people tended to report less positive experiences than men and people over the age of 50, as did patients of larger hospitals.

"While discharge planning has improved, there is still more to do, with many patients saying that they did not receive enough information on their condition, their medication or how to care for themselves at home."

The chief executive of the HSE, Paul Reid, added: "It is important that we listen to and learn from our patients so that we can continue to improve patient care.

"I also wish to acknowledge the work of our hospital staff, who have listened to and are responding to the feedback from previous surveys, and are implementing quality improvement plans in their hospitals."