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

As I pointed out in the numbers I gave the Deputy, we are creating proper jobs. We will hire at least 500 additional nurses to proper jobs with proper contracts across the country this year, but that will not get people off trolleys. People are not on trolleys because of the number of nurses. It is to do with admission rates, bed capacity and many other different issues. It is not the number of staff that causes people to be on trolleys; it is the fact that they are admitted and, for whatever reason, there is not a bed on a ward for them to go into.

The major problem I believe Connolly Hospital has faced, and this is what I have heard from the managers and consultants to whom I have been talking, is that there has been a very significant increase in the delayed discharges in that hospital. More than 40 people in that hospital, who would account for more than a whole ward, are now awaiting long-term care, and that is why we took the action we did a few weeks ago. I am hoping and expecting that this will alleviate the situation over the coming weeks. It is the case that on a couple of occasions in the past few months Connolly Hospital had more people on trolleys than other hospitals. There are 50 hospitals and it is not unusual for any given large hospital to top the table on a particular day.

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