Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

The child was acutely distressed and in need of medical attention before reaching the hospital. Everyone can understand that. The Deputy asked a very relevant question. Crumlin hospital advised the HSE today that it has had an increase of 25% in GP referrals of late, thus putting additional pressure on its emergency department at a time when it is historically busy with normal respiratory illness.

The Deputy asked whether, in the even of an emergency occurring, a bed was available. There was but the difficulty was that emergencies occurred. Unfortunately they occurred at a time when the child concerned should have been prepped and sent to theatre. Clearly, the beds that were available were in use and no downstream bed was available when the child came out of theatre.

I hope it will never happen again but I can understand how it did happen. That does not take away from the distress that not just the parents but the child felt. We all know it is not just about getting to hospital, rather parents psyche themselves up for the fact that a child will have invasive surgery. I hope tomorrow's procedure will go ahead as planned and will be successful.

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