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

That is fine. At some of these meetings, I mentioned what has been the experience of my family and, I am sure, others. We attended five accident and emergency departments in five hospitals and the scene was the same in each. For starters, there was a long waiting time. From the patient’s point of view, everything was happening behind a closed door. Alternatively, in so far as the patient was concerned, nothing was happening. The patient will be concerned and may be in severe pain. To the professional, the issue may not be urgent, but that is not reassuring to the patient. A patient in severe pain may have to wait five to ten hours. After a ten-hour wait, maybe half the triage will be done but there may still be no diagnosis. At that stage, he or she may be told there is only one doctor on duty and that it will take another five, six or ten hours before the people can be cleared. It is at this time, when nothing is happening, that the patient goes home, despite severe pain. The patient goes home and then, hopefully, goes to a different hospital. The same thing happens again and the patient goes home again eventually. In some cases, a patient will not have been seen at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. despite having been delivered to the hospital at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. the previous day. In that case, the patient goes home also. That is not the way to run the system at all.

I have been through the system. I had one very good experience but the others were bad. It was through the dedication of those on the line at the time that my good experience was good. The person concerned listened to what the patient had to say and reacted immediately. Even though there were several distractions, the staff did what they had to do. That was fine.

How can we expect to progress unless we can compete with the private sector in the context of turnaround times and distances between various hospital services? It is generally accepted that when a patient gets into the system, the system is good, but that getting into it is a problem. What have we done about that? What are we doing daily?

How often do the representatives present saunter into an accident and emergency department and the wards to see what is going on? The confidence of patients is at risk, and we cannot afford to lose it. In the public health service, we need the best and have to expect it. What is happening in this regard?

The visiting committees that used to go to the hospitals once upon a time walked around at unexpected times and stuck their noses into places they should not, but there was action and a reaction straight away.