James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

In addition, it has come to my notice from several surgeons that patients known to have cancer of the bowel, oesophagus or lung are being pushed down the list to accommodate people who might have breast cancer. Such is the political drive for reform in this area and to ensure the statistics stack up.

Let us consider the Minister's great reforms. One of these was supposed to be co-located hospitals, but there is no sign of a block laid or a sod turned. What about the new psychiatric unit at St. Ita's Hospital, in which the proposal for a new co-located hospital has impinged on the existing unit? Mental health has been put to the back of the queue again. In St. Ita's hospital, 23 women and 23 men are in two separate wards in beds two to three feet apart, with one block of three toilets, a shower and a bathroom. That is what they have to endure under the Minister's reforms. Is she happy about this?

Is the Minister happy with the 70% increase in delayed discharges among people who are lying in hospital beds but receiving no service, sometimes ending up in long-term care? Is she happy with the fact that a maximum of 500 people and an average of 300 people were on trolleys in hospitals this January? Is she happy with the 20,000 cancelled operations last year? Behind each of those cancelled operations was a patient who was suffering and in pain. That is not shroud-waving; it is reality. People are experiencing real pain.

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