Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this Private Members' debate on the crisis in the emergency departments in hospitals.

Today, in Letterkenny General Hospital there are 11 patients on trolleys. Yesterday, there were 31. This is not a new situation for Letterkenny General Hospital. Indeed, the citizens of Donegal and the staff of the hospital are all too familiar with it.

Looking back, taking one random day in a number of months last year, in March 2014, 19 patients were on trolleys in Letterkenny General Hospital, in May 2014, 22 patients were on trolleys and in September 2014, 12 patients were on trolleys within the hospital.

That is the ongoing situation. While there might be a spike right now because of the winter conditions and the increase in respiratory complaints among the elderly and other patients, this situation has been ongoing for years at Letterkenny General Hospital. The cause of the problem is that over the past six years, this Government and its predecessor took more than €3 billion out of the public health system. It is not possible to run a health service with that level of cuts. The only way to work within those budgets is by maintaining queues, whether they comprise people on waiting lists to see consultants and access treatment or queues of patients on trolleys in emergency departments. That is the only way the budgets can be controlled and it is the system over which the Minister is presiding.

The only way to solve this problem is by way of long-term investment. The only way to make savings is by taking a long-term view. The Minister needs to invest in the health service now. He must invest in the provision of additional beds in hospitals to ensure patients can be accommodated. He must invest in long-term care in the community facilities in order that patients can be moved out of hospitals. However, the nub of the matter is that if the Minister does provide extra beds in community hospitals and nursing homes, he will not save any money. By freeing up beds in hospitals, new patients will be moved in straight away, which will cost money. That is the reality within the health services. It is the reason we have these delays and people sitting on trolleys. To control budgets, the Department of Health and the HSE are controlling access to hospitals.

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