Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In response to Deputy Murphy, those 239 patients should have had a bed. They should not have been on a chair or trolley in an ED. There may of course be people who are in active treatment in an ED, be it in resuscitation or whatever, who die. As Dr. McNamara said, we do not have a breakdown of the different categories of those. Inevitably, there will be people who die in active treatment or under observation in an ED, for example, in resuscitation. Dr. McNamara may speak to that. Those who were being admitted to a hospital and may have spent some time on a trolley before passing away should have been in a bed or at home with palliative care or whatever care was appropriate. I have no doubt there are some within that number - we do not know how many - who should not have been in that situation. That applies not just to UHL but everywhere. It is one of the reasons we are prioritising reducing trolley numbers.

In terms of the review timing, I will have the report from Mr. Justice Clarke shortly.

We will finalise the terms of reference and then agree a timeline with HIQA, which is doing the work, so we need to make sure it can commit to whatever it is.