David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have one quick question. I received a parliamentary question response last week in regard to the number of people over 75 waiting for various types of healthcare. In January, we had just under 1,100 people over 75 waiting more than 24 hours on a hospital trolley or waiting for access to an emergency department. That is a lot of people over 75 in one month across acute hospitals waiting over 24 hours. It is horrific. There are also 86,000 people over 75 waiting for an inpatient or an outpatient hospital appointment. Of those, 28,000 are waiting more than a year. These are patients over 75. When the Minister publishes his waiting list plan tomorrow, it must not give false hope, it needs to have realistic targets and it cannot have what some have described as fake targets. They certainly have to be targets that are ambitious but realistic. It must also be targeted. In regard to that waiting list plan, are those 86,000 people over 75 going to be a priority? I believe the vast majority of people would say no patient should be waiting more than a year to see a hospital consultant. No patient should be waiting on a hospital trolley more than 24 hours. To have such numbers of people over the age of 75 for whom that is the lived reality is unacceptable.