Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach should listen to what he says sometimes. He said it is not in anybody's best interests to have patients on trolleys. There is no need to tell me or anybody else that, particularly the families of these patients. The Taoiseach said there were 400 patients on trolleys this morning, but there were 472. He said a new module unit is being opened at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, which is the case, but last week there was no commitment of staff, especially nursing staff, for that unit. He said the hospital is trying to find beds for patients who have been clinically discharged, but at the same time the Government closed Drogheda Cottage Hospital and has yet to honour the commitment regarding St. Joseph's in Ardee.

Last month, I crossed the floor of this House and gave the Taoiseach a letter I had received from HIQA in which it pointed out that the recommendations of the 2012 report on Tallaght hospital had not been implemented. It said that if these recommendations had been implemented, the current risks would be significantly reduced for patients. It also said that it told the Department of Health and the HSE this. It said all of this in very clear language, publicly and in correspondence.

It is the explicit responsibility of the Department of Health and the Minister for Health to take prompt action to implement HIQA recommendations. When I asked the Taoiseach why the Minister for Health had failed to implement these recommendations, he failed to answer me. When I gave the Taoiseach the letter, he promised to write to me. He never did. I am still awaiting a letter from the Taoiseach dealing with this core issue, which is that HIQA states that if its recommendations had been honoured, this risk would have been significantly reduced. Will the Taoiseach explain to the House why the HSE, the Department of Health and the Minister for Health, in the face of this ongoing crisis, have failed to implement HIQA's recommendations on patient safety in our hospitals?

See this speech in context