Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister look again at the issue of chronic overcrowding, including in Ballinasloe, and making better use of nursing homes, regardless of whether it is a community or a private nursing home? I understand that in respect of Portiuncula Hospital, there were vacancies in both private and community nursing homes, both of which provide very good services. I accept that a doctor must sign off on a discharge and ensure a person can be discharged, but the complaint I constantly receive from families is that a son, a daughter, a brother, a husband, a wife or a partner was fit to be discharged on a Friday but because there was no consultant available to sign off on the discharge, he or she remained in hospital unnecessarily until the Monday. That is three or four bed days in hospital at a time when beds are badly needed. Better use of the system could be made to alleviate overcrowding when it occurs. There is chronic overcrowding at times, as the Minister knows well.