Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Colm Burke.

I have one final question and it is a matter of urgency. In relation to bed capacity, there was a review and reconfiguration of services in the mid-west seven or eight years ago and acute beds were taken from Ennis and Nenagh.

Yet, the regional hospital in Limerick, University Hospital Limerick, as it is now called, has a major trolley problem. I realise the Minister visited the hospital some weeks ago but the same problem may not have been as acute as it was on Tuesday. A total of 66 people were on trollies in Limerick on Tuesday, a record number. This goes back to the reconfiguration and the bed capacity issue. I know a bed capacity review is under way. The living evidence of the shortage of beds is the trolley queues that continued throughout the summer. They never dipped unlike in previous years. Now, the hospital in Limerick has the highest number in what is probably the mildest winter we have had for several years and there is no influenza problem at the moment either. What is the situation with regard to bed capacity, in particular for Limerick?