David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I will come to staffing and finances shortly but I want to start with Mr. Gloster's commentary in regard to emergency departments. The HSE figures suggest there has been a decline in the number of people waiting in emergency departments on a trolley or waiting for a bed in the last six months of last year. Obviously, Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, figures, which I know the HSE often disputes, paint a different picture. Whichever numbers are right or wrong, the reality is that we still have very fundamental challenges in many emergency departments.

The one that stands out and has been in the public domain in recent times, rightly so, is University Hospital Limerick. I put it to Mr. Gloster that what we are seeing in Limerick is unacceptable, the number of patients who are waiting on trolleys is unacceptable and the human stories that are coming out of that hospital in terms of patients’ experiences are unacceptable. I also put it to Mr. Gloster that there is now a real lack of confidence in the running of the hospital because of what people are seeing and their lived experience. As Mr. Gloster knows, this committee will visit University Hospital Limerick very shortly.

I put it to Mr. Gloster, as head of the HSE, that what we are seeing from Limerick is not acceptable, has to be improved and that whatever measures need to be put in place, including resources, must be put in place to ensure we can resolve some of those issues. Can I invite a response from him on that point?