Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not need my two minutes to re-emphasise what I have already said. I do not like repeating myself. However, as I said, the catchment area of Waterford Regional Hospital is big. How come there was so much success in Cork? Why is the system not working in Waterford? Is the Minister of State blaming the administrative staff in Waterford hospital for not being able to reduce the numbers? We are not talking about a small increase but about an increase of 80% since 2013, which is two years ago. It is a massive increase. Not being a health professional, I do not know why the inpatient number has risen so much. I complimented the Minister on the success with outpatient figures this year. The figures do not lie. I can give them to the Minister of State on the way out. Why, if there was success with outpatient numbers, was there no success with inpatient numbers? Was it a question of money? Did available resources reduce the outpatient number? Why is the trend for inpatients the opposite? Based on my having raised this matter today, can we find out the reason for the increase of 80% in Waterford? Can we do as was done for outpatients?

I will not go through all the figures again. There is no use blathering across the floor of the House. Can we take some action to reduce the number on the waiting list? There has been an increase of 80%. I referred to 4,400 inpatients on the list. This is too many and there is something seriously wrong somewhere along the line. I ask the Minister of State to investigate this or ask the Minister to do something about it.

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