Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I left the accident and emergency unit of UHL around 1 o'clock this morning. I am hugely grateful to the staff who are under savage pressure and are very good at their job. I say that with huge sincerity. I am grateful I have not experienced other accident and emergency departments. It is by virtue of where I live that I have not been to other emergency departments. It is struck me last night that the emergency department in UHL is not confined to the area behind its sliding doors. There are trolleys and parts of the department located in other corridors. One part stretches between 60 or 70 yards from the accident and emergency department. This is further evidence that the mid-west region funnels all of its acute needs through one major hospital. The answer lies in having an elective hospital, as my colleague noted a moment ago, and beefing up capacity in Ennis hospital, St. John's Hospital in Limerick and Nenagh General Hospital. We cannot keep funnelling people through UHL, whether that is through its accident and emergency environment or for people with acute needs and even inpatient appointments. Otherwise, the system will eventually cave in, as has already happened several times this year. The hospital is far exceeding its capacity and is incessantly breaking all records.

I will press Senator Conway's point regarding an elective hospital. We have approached this subject many times and the collective answer given by the witnesses, that a plan is being spoken about and there has been some chat or dialogue, is insufficient. It is simply not good enough for the people in the mid-west and Members of the Oireachtas, as representatives of the region, to be told that something is being chatted about when, on the other hand, we hear that elective-only hospitals are planned for Dublin, Cork and Galway. Will somebody own up or has some genius here decided that the mid-west, despite all of the pressures it faces, is not worthy of an elective hospital?

We need to hear it categorically and we need to hear it on record today.