Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This time yesterday my colleague, Deputy Micheál Martin, raised the case of a 91 year old man who had been kept on a trolley in the emergency department in Tallaght hospital. The Taoiseach said he wanted to know who was responsible and described it as a shocking example of the dysfunctionality of the system. He has joined the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, in being a commentator from the sidelines on the health service. There are several other stories today. An 87 year old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted when she was placed in an all-male ward because of overcrowding, which is absolutely cruel and callous. We all agree that older people, particularly at such a vulnerable time in their lives, deserve better and at least to be treated with decency and dignity.

In the past hour, in this morning’s edition of the Irish Daily Mirrorand on "Today with Sean O’Rourke" another story was told which had the absolute worst outcome. It concerns the death of Dualtagh Donnelly because of ambulance delays in Dundalk. It took 39 minutes for an ambulance to arrive after he had severed an artery in his arm. He lived five minutes from the base station. He was a young man, the father of two young children, with another child on the way. Will the Minister ask for the case to be independently investigated in order that such a case can be avoided in the future? Mr. Donnelly's partner spoke very movingly and courageously on "Today with Sean O’Rourke" this morning and the family is to be commended for going public about its tragic loss. There are problems in the National Ambulance Service and delays all over the country. This will happen again, unless there is an independent investigation and lessons are learned.

The approach of Mr. Donnelly’s family is very different from that of the management of Tallaght hospital which states it will investigate Dr. Gray’s letter. It will not investigate why a 91 year old man was left on a trolley but the doctor and how his correspondence was released to the public. It seems it is not interested in the treatment of patients but in disciplining and silencing its critics and those who raise genuine cases of concern. Surely the management of a hospital should be worried about how it took 29 hours for a 91 year old to be given a bed in a ward rather than scapegoating a doctor.

The Minister has introduced whistleblower legislation and championed whistleblowers for many years. Does he believe Tallaght hospital’s approach is correct? Does he believe that, where they have issues of serious concern, doctors and medical staff should be allowed to bring them to management? Will he confirm that the incident at South Tipperary General Hospital took place, as reported this morning? Will he commit, on behalf of the Government, to initiating an independent investigation into the reason for the delay in the arrival of an ambulance for the late Mr. Donnelly in Dundalk?

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