Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I support the motion in the name of the Fine Gael Deputies. That said, the motion is limited in scope and does not describe the full extent of the crisis in our public health services. The crisis includes the record number of patients on trolleys and chairs in accident and emergency departments during January 2011, as cited in the motion; the hundreds of beds closed in our acute hospitals due to cutbacks; the continuing recruitment embargo which means that there are not enough nurses, junior hospital doctors and other front-line care staff to cope with the care needs of inpatients and outpatients in our public hospitals; the rising tide of emigration of young trained health professionals; the continuing cuts to services in local hospitals and the drive to centralisation which is reducing the overall level of care to communities across the country; the shortage of GPs; the shortage of primary care centres; the exorbitant fees charged by many GPs; the increased burden on medical card holders through the prescription levy; the failure to more effectively address at source the spiralling cost of medicines, allowing profiteering by pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors to continue; the cuts affecting care for the old, the young and the disabled; the unregulated home care sector; and the recent massive rise in VHI rates which imposes a further burden on thousands of families, especially those with children.

I challenged the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, last week during Priority Questions on the accident and emergency situation. Her reply was mostly irrelevant to the issue at hand. There was no recognition of the extent of the crisis. She trotted out the usual guff about the system allegedly having been reformed and made more efficient. I have no doubt many efficiencies were introduced and that in many respects things have improved compared to five or ten years ago, but in other respects they have gotten worse.

The fact is that in 2006 the Minister said we had a national emergency because of the numbers on trolleys in accident and emergency departments. This month the numbers exceeded those in 2006 but there was no national emergency in the mind of the Minister on this occasion. For example, on 11 January there was the highest ever number of patients on trolleys in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. The equivalent of two full wards were waiting for admission in the emergency department.

Mr. Tony Fitzpatrick of the INMO described the situation as "extremely dangerous for patients and staff". The INMO called for an urgent meeting with HSE management, the same HSE management that gave clear and unequivocal commitments that measures would be put in place to alleviate over-crowding when they went ahead with the so-called re-configuration in the north east, including, of course, the axing of the accident and emergency departments at Monaghan and Dundalk.

The INMO and others, this Deputy included, correctly predicted that the levels of overcrowding would increase when beds were closed and hospitals downgraded across the north east. On 11 January, 66 patients were on trolleys in the north east while over 200 beds have been closed in that region.

What time did the Leas-Cheann Comhairle allocate to me?

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