Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At 8 a.m. this morning there were approximately 420 patients on trolleys across 28 acute hospitals. That number will fall dramatically during the day, as it always does, probably by half. Of course, it is still not acceptable that anybody should be on a trolley for more than nine hours. What was in Dr. Tony O'Connell's letter, which was not addressed to me but to others in the HSE, was nothing new. It is absolutely the case that older people who are in hospital longer than they have to be because they are waiting on a nursing home bed or home care package are at risk of falls, medication errors and infection. In addition, the fact they are not being discharged certainly does delay treatment for others, who are then put at risk. There is nothing new in what Mr. O'Connell pointed out in his letter. It is something that could be said about our health service for as long as I can remember, certainly going back to when I was a medical student.

We are taking action to alleviate the situation and that is why the number of delayed discharges has gone down and the number on trolleys is going down slightly week on week. It is one of the reasons the wait time for the fair deal scheme has gone down. I agree with the Deputy that it is necessary for us to press on with that, redouble our efforts and keep chipping away at the problem throughout the year. There are three options as to how we proceed, as I indicated, and a decision in that regard requires the approval of the EMC and the Cabinet committee on health.

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