A record number patients have been treated in Irish hospitals.
The HSE has published key healthcare figures for 2023 showing a reduction in waiting times.
However there have been large increases in both funding and staffing, productivity hasn't matched up.
These hospital activity figures show the highest ever number of people receiving day case care, attending outpatient appointments and getting hospital care as inpatients.
Almost 1.7 million people received emergency care in 2023, a rise of 29,000 on the previous year and an increase of 188,000 in 2019.
There's been a steady rise in the number of people receiving care at an injury unit, with 165 thousand attendances last year, up from 147 thousand in 2022.
The HSE acknowledges unacceptably long waiting lists remain for many procedures and that emergency departments continue to come under pressure.
