Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There are 1,200 more healthcare professionals working in that one hospital than there were four years ago. To suggest, therefore, that the embargo, which I know is having an impact on specialist teams because I have spoken to the nurses and doctors, is somehow responsible for what is going on in respect of the increase in trolley figures this year simply does not stack up in a hospital that has 1,200 more people working in it than it did last year.

The other point on the embargo is that it applies to all the hospitals and not just to UHL. Despite the embargo, however, nearly all the other hospitals that have seen similar increases in the numbers coming in are driving down the trolley numbers. The question we must ask ourselves, then, is if the other hospitals are all reducing the number of patients on trolleys while seeing a similar increase in the numbers of patients coming in, what is going on in UHL this year that is different from last year?

My belief is that we are now beginning to see in UHL the significant changes in how the hospital is run and patient flow managed that we have seen in other hospitals. We need to see this process accelerated. The evidence from around the country, certainly, is that this will make a difference.