Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his staff very much for coming in. We have all found the information we have been given very interesting. As a committee, we took the unprecedented step of going down to visit UHL. Members expressed a number of reasons for this but we were all concerned by the really negative stories we were hearing about what was happening in Limerick. We were hearing stories for all the wrong reasons. We are conscious of all the positive work that is happening in Limerick hospital. We met the staff there. We met people working in discharge. There was great concern regarding staff, the lack of key personnel and the challenges in respect of the emergency department. As the Minister stated, those challenges are still there. As a member of the committee and as someone who is watching developments within Limerick, at times it was difficult to know who was in charge. We were hearing about different staff coming in. I am trying to be fair but, as outsiders, it seemed we were firefighting after certain tragedies and after hearing certain stories in the media.

We then had the awful story of Aoife Johnston. As someone who has read parts of the report, it seems there was chaos and a lack of key personnel to make those key decisions. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne spoke last week about the nurses’ union, SIPTU, and the need for safeguards. I am aware the challenges that face University Hospital Limerick also face other hospitals. Yesterday, a son of a constituent of mine, an 83-year old woman, was told it would be better if his mother actually left the hospital because of how dangerous it was. These issues, therefore, are not solely confined to UHL, but it has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Mistakes have been made in the past, such as downgrading certain elements of the hospital and trying to funnel everything through Limerick hospital and the challenges of that.

We did not really get the chance to discuss step-down care and beds in Nenagh. There is controversy over that.

This meeting has been really useful and we have got a lot of information. There are still a lot of questions, however. We may bring in the new chief executive officer at some stage if the committee has the time to do so. I appreciate the Minister, and many of his staff, tried to answer questions. I thank witnesses for the information they have given. I also offer my condolences, and those of the committee, to the family and friends of Aoife Johnston. It is only fitting we end the meeting on that point. The meeting is adjourned until Tuesday, 15 October at 4 p.m., when the committee will meet in private session.