I was in A&E on a Sunday afternoon. It was packed out, the booking system was so slow and they were not in a hurry to book people in either. I was an hour there before I was called by triage nurse. She asked me everything I had told at the desk again. I had sprained my ankle five days before and I was concerned about my ankle bone. She asked to look at it and I said ok yes. She said can you lift it up for me. I said no I can't. She didn't even get up of her chair to look, she asked me to pull up my trouser leg to see. She said go back out, you may need x-rays, the doctor will tell you. I waited a further three hours before I left. When I informed the desk I was going, the person there told me 'well you did come in after 3, it is always busy'. This is our health service. There were 5 people there who were loud and trashed the seating area with rubbish and litter. There were also elderly people left sitting for hours on end. It's a disgrace. There should be a better way of treating people to get them in and out, like better triage. Elderly people should have a better service too. The hospital is a disgrace. There was no hand sanitizer in the four pumps at entrance and the loos were filthy. The check-in desk needs to be more efficient. The triage nurse's room is too small and there should be more than one triage nurse to speed up the treatments and more than two doctors too. Lastly, when the patients were being called you could not hear the name - it needs a total PA system, as well as a complete waiting area overhaul.

I submitted a written complaint regarding hygiene or lack of it and the lack of privacy. The response did nothing to encourage me to go back there.

There is a poor match between surgery slots and bed availability. We rang on the morning of a planned elective surgery, for which we had waited nearly six months (and that after a 10 month wait to even see the specialist!), to be told that although the surgeon and the theatre were ready, there was no bed!! Surely this is a huge waste of money! However, despite this, the staff on the ward were brilliant and told us to come in and they would try to find a bed which they did - thank goodness, because if we had had to wait for another slot my daughter would have been out of paediatrics and with almost no hope of ever getting the operation as an adult! The nurses as I said were fabulous keeping us informed and updated about progress, they were kind, helpful, efficient and professional. Most of the doctors were also the same with the exception of one doctor whose name I could not find out, who was very dismissive and did not speak to the patient directly once, nor did he make eye contact but just stood at the end of the bed, pronounced a medication and disappeared without having made any sort of an examination or asked her how she was feeling. In general a good experience with one unavoidable problem due probably to the lack of investment in our public health system, and one avoidable problem - please train all doctors to have a better bed-side manner not just make it the luck of the draw whether you get a good one or a bad one!

Compared to Swedish medical care, I would say the main issue in Drogheda is administration. Feels like the dark ages with the amount of paperwork and the lack of appointed slots. Sweden - you only give your social security number and they have everything they need on file. And as for hospital insurance - total confusion as to what you are covered for and not covered for. The hospital is in dire need of a demolition and re-build. Years ago I was doing my maternity visits here and I cried every time because it was so depressing to sit there for hours and hours. In Sweden, I was there for my appointment and out in 15 minutes.

Awful service. Waited over seven hours for a one year old child to be seen. Trainee doctor didn't have the necessary skills to properly speak to me about my daughter's illness. She was dismissive and uninterested. Returned to A&E four days later as illness had gotten worse. After a four hour wait the nurse very rudely asked why we were there. She was again rude and uninterested on hearing the patient history. Received conflicting information from doctors. When I highlighted this they starting trying to back track. We left with no treatment. Very frustrated with a child that is still ill.

87-year-old left waiting on a trolley in A&E from Monday and still there today, Thursday. The A&E is filthy, there is not enough staff, there is no privacy or dignity. Medical notes are held on scraps of paper with no cross reference to historic notes resulting in meds being missed. A total disgrace. This is a 3rd world hospital.

I attended OLOL twice since November. The first time I came in through A&E as I was in early pregnancy and bleeding heavily. Although obviously very busy and understaffed, everyone was so friendly and helpful. I was kept overnight and had a scan in the morning which unfortunately showed that I had lost the baby. Throughout my entire stay all staff were incredible. I attended the early pregnancy unit this week and was told that I had, again, lost another baby. The doctor and particularly the midwife were so lovely and really made a horrible situation more bearable.

After being admitted to A&E following a seizure which caused a car accident, the patient (my husband) was on a trolley the entire time from Wed evening to Sat morning. I had been admitted myself to the ED in Drogheda shortly after the new section opened, and the difference in the few years was unbelievable. When it first opened, there was one patient to a cubicle, there was so much space, and all tests were carried out on the day. A few years later, there is barely any space to move with trolleys all along the corridors, and 2 trolleys to a cubicle, which don't even fit in. The cubicles were obviously designed for only one person but the system is overloaded, as are the staff. The staff were doing their best in the situation but it seems to be an awful work place. My husband ended up being discharged without the necessary tests being completed as they had no idea how long it would take before they could do the test and he would have to stay on the trolley in A&E as there was no way of knowing when a bed would be available.

I would highly recommend anyone to have their baby in OLOL, the level of care I received was fantastic and the care I saw other patients receiving was brilliant. Well done, keep up the good work.

Attende the ED with my mother-in-law in Sept where she was neglected and her treatment was not carried out appropriately. Tonight, attended it again with chest complaints. Again she had to wait over eight hours to be seen by a doctor. The staff did not even listen to what was being said and had no humanity. They don't seem to have any caring skills anymore. I spoke to one nurse who told me it was my choice if I wanted to leave, and didn't seem at all caring in their role.

Over seven hours wait in A&E for stitches to face due to car accident. Needed toilet paper from toilet to stop blood flow.

Had to attend the fracture clinic a number of times over a six-week period. I found the reception staff in both A&E and for the clinic to be excellent face to face. Found it very difficult to get through to A&E on the phone. Nursing staff were pleasant in the clinics. I would not rate the doctors I encountered very highly. In the main they created a poor impression, reluctance to introduce themselves with anything but their first name. One doctor didn't introduce herself at all. Another doctor wanted to know why I wanted to know his surname. I would expect all doctors to wear clearly visible name badges. It is both reassuring and informative for a patient. A patient should be able to find some info on a medic who has just treated them in a clinic. There seemed to be quite a number of junior doctors in the clinic. This isn't always a bad thing but in our experience here, one of the junior doctors we met on our first visit to the clinic seemed knowledgeable and consulted with a senior colleague. However on our second visit he was contradicted, undermined and criticised by the doctor who was dealing with us. Not very reassuring. Final doctor we saw in our visits, was someone we had observed during previous visits. They still looked to be in a bad mood three weeks later. Didn't introduce themselves and seemed under pressure to get through as many files as possible and was unconvincing in their approach and manner. Overall my experience was not as bad as I expected. There were long waits in the clinics, that is probably to be expected. However I wouldn't expect that the doctors would be the part of the process to leave the poor impression.

The hospital was visibly dirty. My husband brought in antibacterial wipes so I could clean my area of the ward. The staff while very over worked lacked any kind of compassion associated with the nursing profession, they were in fact mean. In the three days I was a patient only one nurse was in any way nice to me. The ancillary staff delivering meals were utterly obnoxious and just plain rude. Nothing regarding my care was explained. I had an episiotomy and on the third day as I was leaving I had to ask for my stitches to be checked. The only one available to do it was a student midwife. I do not think I will return to the Lourdes if I am lucky to fall pregnant again - the place is an accident waiting to happen.

Lying on hospital trolley for duration of my stay, no beds available. Absolute Disgrace! HSE management should be sacked!!!

On the recommendation of my GP I had a 24 hour blood pressure monitor fitted at the Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda on 31/07/14. I returned the monitor to the hospital on 01/08/14. Despite several telephone calls by my GP's secretary and by myself I have still not been provided with the results to date, 22/10/2014

I was brought in by ambulance with a fractured ankle. I also had an arm injury on the same side. I was extremely immobilised. I was in from Sunday night to Wednesday afternoon but I was only washed on Wednesday morning when I begged to be washed. I thought I would die of sepsis. Nurses had an attitude of complete contempt for the patients, they were obnoxious and unprofessional. I refused post-op morphine and the diphene was upsetting my stomach. I couldn't eat the over-processed crap they thought was food, but they had no particular interest in my upset stomach, just irritation that I had the nerve to require assistance - i.e. I needed nursing help with my physical incapacity to deal with my bodily functions. I would rather kill myself than be dependent on such people. It was like being thrown helpless into the clutches of a gang of very spiteful children.

My experience was having had a procedure at the hospital, I presented to ED having earlier seen the GP on call. I was seen almost immediately but it took so long to actually get a diagnosis of the presenting complaint and when it did come it was completely ridiculous given my presenting complaint. I was discharged promptly following this and was to be seen in outpatients gynae two weeks after. Six weeks later that appointment has never been sent to me. I later presented to a Dublin hospital and was properly diagnosed and treated and am so glad that my medical knowledge afforded me the opportunity to take preventative steps myself to prevent a much more serious event presenting medically for me. If I become unwell I will do everything in my power to avoid OLLH in the future.

This was my 4th pregnancy. I ended up with gestational diabetes for the first time. The information and care I got was so good I could not fault it one bit. From explaining my diagnosis to the treatment needed. Thank you

I was admitted with a fracture. A+E competent . Was admitted to x ward, as no other beds available.Was very immobile. Was treated like a nuisance.Staff nurse aggressive, rude,obnoxious .Was in 2 bed room, woman beside me having miscarriage, no. privacy for her, either. Had surgery, returned to ward. Incredibly hot, noisy,couldn\'t sleep, due to constant noise. Nurses doing checks at night would turn overhead light on, just in case one might have been in danger of getting any sleep...rnI was left for 3 days, not washed, begged to be washed on 4 th day ,which was obviously too menial a job for a nurse,. I felt I was getting cystitis due to personal filth,not that was of any interest to the nurses. I was very immobile,could only use one arm,+ one leg. Was at one point given a sponge+ water!asked if I wanted to freshen up! but was too immobile,+ painful.Was left dirty with I/v catheter in place for over 24 hours-they are obviously unconcerned or unaware of the risks.Food utterly repulsive, processed crap,I stopped eating, I wanted either to get the hell out of there, or die , or kill myself.It was a noisy, hot, dirty hostile hellhole.I am a veterinary surgeon,which probably increased the hostility,I can assure you, we do not treat dogs that badly.

Very poor experience with staff on duty . We experienced a reluctance by staff to provide critical information on tests undertaken, results received and reasons for discharge (despite one of the key blood test results not being available). Repeated efforts by us resulted in minimal information being provided, very reluctantly. One nurse was totally dismissive throughout and even turned away when asked for information. This was particularly difficult as the patient has an intellectual disability and we were totally reliant on staff for information. rnOur experience the previous evening was excellent and I would like to highlight this. The lead nurse on duty on 15/8/14 (pm) was excellent, thoroughly professional and was interested in the patient, his history, his family contact details etc.

Overall I found the hospital to be very dirty. A&E was very overcrowed, too many patients on trollies for days. I spent three days on same before I got a bed. As I was very sick it was extremely uncomfortable, no sleep, nowhere to put anything, all trollies lined up in corridors. God forbid a fire might break out. This was my first time in this hospital and I sincerely hope it will be my last especially in A&E.

Very impressed with my stay there

The patient had a baby and shared the room with one other woman who had about 10 visitors. It was unacceptable. The baby was asleep and the mother was tired and unwell and had 10 strangers in her room nearly on top of her bed.

Very disappointed with my trip to Lourdes hospital with my five year old son. Suspected fracture. Arrived at hospital at 6.20. Was seen by nurse at 7. Left sitting in overcrowded waiting room until 10.50 when finally got examined by doctor. During my wait a child was vomiting in the waiting room, all over himself and the floor, paramedics who were dropping a child in had to help the sick child. No cleaner was sent in afterwards to mop up or disinfect the area. At one stage a lady asked for waiting time and was told it would be a 'good while' as there was no doctor available?? After inspection from doctor at 10.50, I then had to wait until 11.45 for x-ray. Where my child was in severe pain and exhausted. When I came back from x- ray, there was still several people ahead of me for X-ray results. That was when I decided to bring my crying, upset, tired child home. I explained to the nurse that I was going to leave and could she get the doctor to call my husband with results as my battery had died several hours before. Doctor rang and said fracture can be seen, so it was back up there in the morning for more!

Very happy with all the midwives in the Lourdes.

The A&E dept was seriously overcrowded. Staff run off their feet and I don't know how they coped. Serious lack of seating and the toilets were the worst I've seen since the electric picnic.

Hospital has a notoriously bad name due to events of the past (and rightly so in many cases) but should be given immense credit for how it has improved over the last few years. The numbers coming through the ED dept is ridiculous and as such makes the situation appear worse than it actually is.

My daughter was born in the midwife unit in 2010. I cannot speak highly enough of the excellent care received!! Compared to my 1st child's birth, it was so much more relaxed and about us!! I would have no hesitation in returning if another baby was on the way!!

It's an absolute disgrace when your doctor sends you to A&E and you end up waiting anything up to 14hrs just to get in and then you're left waiting on a trolley for at least two hours before you have a nurse come to put the needle in your hand and take bloods. It can then take up to 6-8hrs before you meet a registrar as casualty is full of junior doctors who seem to spend more time sitting and chatting than attending to patients. The nurses are great but obviously under extreme pressure. The whole reason anybody goes to A&E is because you need urgent medical attention and can be very distressing and the longer you wait to see a registrar the more afraid you become because it's an emergency. On one occasion I had to wait two days before I saw a registrar only to be rushed into theatre - I found the whole experience terrifying and degrading.

Had first baby in Lourdes, after being in the MLU ended up having baby early by by C-section due to complications and despite the obvious understaffing, the nurses, midwives and other staff were absolutely brilliant. I loved the food, it was wholesome and always good quality. The maternity ward I was on was very busy but there was always a nurse to help if I needed assistance. I'm going public again, it was nice to have a few other ladies to chat with during my stay especially being a first time mother. I understand people have bad experiences in hospitals but I could not fault them. So big thank you to the midwives and staff of the Maternity unit in OLOL. Keep up the good work. It is appreciated by those you give care to.