Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Another issue, which I have raised in the past, is overcrowding at accident and emergency departments. This is a major part of the health services that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Has the number of staff on duty at any particular time been examined to find out whether there are enough doctors, nurses and other relevant people who need to be called upon in those situations on duty? I had first-hand experience of at least four public hospitals in recent times and I was not impressed with what I saw. There is a need now to ensure that those who find themselves in accident and emergency departments have a reasonable chance of triage, in the first instance, in the shortest possible time. I heard suggestions that patients were triaged when they were not; they were partially triaged. They had their blood pressure taken and possibly had an electrocardiogram, ECG, or whatever done, but there is a lot more to triage than that. That is urgent. I have experiences of patients who were in pain and really suffering having to wait while others, who they did not view as being in as great a need as they were, did not have to wait. They may be wrong about that, of course. How does Mr. Gloster respond to that? What is being done about it?