Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

In some cases it was the only way of accessing those diagnostics. I accept what Deputy Jan O'Sullivan says about having people in unsuitable facilities, particularly in some of the older A&E units that have poor facilities. That is why we strongly support the escalation policies, as the A&E consultants do. I have been reading about great hospitals all over the world, including Stony Brook Hospital in New York which is regarded as one of the best hospitals there. It has a full capacity protocol policy and that is exactly what they do when they have an issue in their A&E department. I saw it for myself in Vancouver when I was there. That is the policy we want to implement here, although there is resistance to it, particularly in the Deputy's own area. That is the kind of approach that has delivered success elsewhere, rather than having large numbers of people in A&E.

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