John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Figures reported by the HSE this morning at 8 a.m. indicate that Beaumont, the Mater and Cork University hospitals continue to have patients waiting for unacceptably long periods for admission, although it has informed the Minister that the situation has improved from last week and that it is continuing its efforts to improve waiting times in all hospitals, particularly these three hospitals.

Seasonal factors such as the swine flu, winter vomiting and the extremely inclement weather conditions have placed additional demands on emergency departments in recent weeks.

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