Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 27 September 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 38 - Department of Health
9:00 am
Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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They cannot be compared to one another on the basis of bottom-line statistics or even measurability based on information on a spreadsheet relating to increases or decreases in the number of patients on trolleys. It is a joined-up issue that is not working across the networks. I asked the Minister about ambulance services. As the Chairman knows, there are record numbers of patients on trolleys in hospitals such as that in Limerick in the mid-west. People cannot be taken out of the hospital. That is not a failure of those working there. There is a broader issue in relation to transport. Unless those issues are addressed, the patients have nowhere to go.