Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to raise a matter of national importance, namely, the need for the Minister for Health and Children to reject the draft HSE plan for 2010 with its proposals for the closure of a further 1,100 acute hospital beds and the cutting of hospital admissions by some tens of thousands, all in the context of ongoing health cutbacks; an increase in the number of patients on trolleys in accident and emergency departments, 426 yesterday compared to 313 at the same time last year; overcrowding leading to the spread of hospital infections such as the recent C. difficile outbreak in the north east; and the continuing downgrading of hospitals, the latest being the decision to close the 40-bed psychiatric unit in South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel.

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