David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Gloster. I know of one case of a 78-year-old woman who arrived in an emergency department, referred by her GP. She arrived last week into University Hospital Waterford at 3 p.m. with her daughter. She was triaged very quickly but was then left on a chair for hours on end. Her daughter had to leave her in the early hours of the morning because she was working the following day. She arrived back at about 7 o'clock the following morning and her mam was still sitting in the same chair and had not been admitted to a bed. She was not admitted to a bed until 3 p.m. the following day. She waited for 24 hours. In the first quarter of this year, over 17,769 patients waited longer than 24 hours in emergency departments. Mr. Gloster will be aware that in some departments that is an average for all patients. The average is about 11.7 hours across the board. Is that acceptable, given the levels of investment we are putting into acute hospitals and into healthcare generally? We are spending tens of billions of euro to have patients of that age, including this patient who was later diagnosed with a serious cardiac issue, sitting on a chair in an emergency department for 24 hours. It is not just her. Countless people are in the same situation every day in acute hospitals across the State. Is that acceptable?