Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

Accident and emergency and hospital overcrowding is unacceptable in any circumstances and the health services, as the Minister will be well aware, have been devastated by cuts. Hospital and health staff are overwhelmed by the situation. They are under severe pressure and they are working above and beyond the call of duty every hour of every day. Despite their best efforts, they are struggling to provide a safe service.

The austerity budgets of the past number of years and the cuts by the Government and the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Government have devastated the service. Those cuts include €3.5 billion taken out of the budget, 11,000 staff taken out, 2,000 beds closed and 2.3 million home-help hours lost. The fair deal scheme has been devastated. There are now 2,000 people waiting 15 weeks for that service. This time 12 months ago there were 523 at six weeks. Inpatient and outpatient waiting lists have ballooned and the elderly are waiting months on end for simple appliances, such as walkers and geriatric chairs.

The effect of these cuts in hospitals is reflected in my local hospital, South Tipperary General Hospital, where the budget has been cut by 25%, or over €13 million, and it has lost over 100 staff. Despite that, the hospital has put in a huge effort and activity levels have increased every year. The hospital is now operating at 120% capacity every day.

This overcrowding in accident and emergency has gone on for ten to 15 years and we know the solutions. It is time to stop the short-term temporary solutions that we have heard again here from the Minister tonight. We need permanent solutions to ensure this does not happen in future.

Measures such as the provision of medical assessment units, the use of discharge lounges, rapid access to outpatient departments, direct admission by GPs in some cases and community intervention teams all are ones that need to be put in place in all hospitals. These are helpful and worthwhile but of themselves will not solve the overcrowding crisis in the accident and emergency departments.

The Minister must now take permanent decisions on long-term solutions. He must open the closed beds. He must put in place additional step-down facilities. He must employ additional nursing and support staff. The fair deal scheme must be put back on an even keel, at least to the same level as it was last year. Community services, primary care and particularly home help and home care assistance must be brought back to at least what they were when the Government took office, and appliances must be made available for the elderly. If these measures are not put in place then we will be dealing with this issue next year and the year after, and the year after that. It is time for the Minister to bite the bullet and put these in place to ensure this is solved once and for all.

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