Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

More than 45 people were waiting on trolleys in the emergency department in Beaumont recently. There is a lack of urgency in dealing with this issue. At any one time, 100 people are in Beaumont hospital when they should be in nursing homes, in receipt of home care packages or in other step down facilities. The funding provided as recently as the budget shows that the Minister is not taking this issue seriously enough to provide adequate funds to shift people from acute hospital settings to more suitable facilities. Forever and a day we have been debating the numbers waiting in emergency departments and on trolleys. The HIQA report on the ambulance service found inordinate delays in transferring people from ambulances to emergency departments because of overcrowding. The Minister has to take a hands-on approach with this issue. He cannot say it needs a long-term solution. Four years ago the Government committed to resolving the problems affecting emergency departments. This is a national crisis which persists without any effort on the part of the Minister or the Government to address it in a meaningful way.

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