Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Shortly after he came to office, the Minister indicated, in his address to the INMO conference, that he accepted the INMO trolley-watch figures. Does he also accept the INMO figures for closed hospital beds? It is strange that he does not want to talk about bed closures because he talked about them ad nauseam when he was on the Opposition benches. At the last count the INMO figure was 1,847.

The Minister is repeating the mantra of his predecessor about the fluctuation of beds at any one time. We heard all this before. The Minister himself, when in opposition, described it as a dodge. It was a dodge then and it is dodge now.

Of course we must have greater efficiency. The Minister must also accept, as he repeatedly stated when in opposition, that too many beds have been taken out of the public hospital system and that those closures must stop. Indeed, a significant number must now be reversed.

What about the closures of the very beds that he himself says are the most needed for efficiency? What about beds for day cases and short stays? Does the Minister agree that more beds closed means more patients suffering needlessly on trolleys and more patients waiting at home in pain due to cancelled operations? Does the Minister agree with that statement and will he commence a public bed re-opening programme as an essential part of addressing the current crisis in accident and emergency departments and acute hospitals across the State?

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