Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The outgoing Government introduced five consecutive budgets which needed massive supplementary budgets to keep the Department of Health afloat. The over-run in the Department this year could be between €330 million and €500 million. That is the background to this debate.

The outgoing Government also failed in a number of areas, including that it failed to implement universal health insurance. There are broken promises relating to the abolition of the HSE and there is an escalating general practitioner recruitment crisis. There has been a 42% increase in patient waiting lists in the past year alone. The fair deal nursing homes scheme for the elderly is in crisis. Some 405,000 people are waiting for outpatient appointments. Moreover, we have constant overcrowding in the country's emergency departments.

I wish to deal with this latter point in particular. The ongoing crisis in our emergency departments is a scandal and the situation raises serious concerns about patient safety. Hundreds of patients, many of them elderly and frail, are being left for days on end on trolleys in corridors and makeshift wards without privacy and dignity as front-line staff struggle to cope without the necessary resources or supports. Patients are left in queues in emergency departments. There is a loss of dignity for patients. There is an infection risk due to overcrowding. In general, patients and patient safety are put at risk. This annual crisis needs to be tackled once and for all. There must be substantial investment in more hospital beds and staff as well as increased funding for home care packages, dementia care and the nursing home support scheme.

I wish to be parochial for a moment and deal in particular with Beaumont Hospital. I make no apology for this. The situation in the emergency department of Beaumont was the major issue on the doorsteps in the recent general election campaign in Dublin Bay North. Over the winter months it was not uncommon for up to 50 patients to be left on trolleys each morning in the emergency department there. This is totally unacceptable. Beaumont has a number of particular problems and the catchment area for Beaumont Hospital has a number of special circumstances. It serves north Dublin and the north-east region. The population is ageing and growing. There are a large number of those over 65 years of age, including a large number of people over 85. Many of these older people are living alone. There are fewer nursing home beds compared to other regions in the country. Beaumont has is the national centres for neurosurgery, renal transplantation and cochlear implantation. It also has a cancer centre of excellence.

The fact is that the emergency department in Beaumont Hospital is not fit for purpose. It was opened in 1987 when the hospital itself was opened. There has been no development of emergency department capacity or infrastructure since then. As an initial step the emergency department needs to be doubled in size. The hospital has prepared a capital investment plan. Phase one involves the construction of a new building. This would consist of a new emergency department, a new intensive care unit, a new high dependency unit and new facilities for cystic fibrosis patients. The cost of this project is approximately €100 million. There are also plans for phase two, which include 100 new beds, including single room beds. These will go a long way to prevent the problem of infection in the hospital. Phase one of this project must be sanctioned as soon as possible. I understand, however, that the Health Service Executive capital budget is completely full up. The projects that have been given priority include the national children's hospital and the relocation of Holles Street hospital and the Central Mental Hospital. Therefore, it is a rather gloomy picture for all the other hospitals seeking capital funding, in particular for Beaumont Hospital.

I have no criticism of the management and staff in the hospital. Recently, I met the management team in Beaumont to discuss the situation and I am satisfied that they are doing everything possible to tackle the problems in the emergency department. However, they have to contend with a number of particular issues. For example, nursing homes will not take patients with dementia due to strict regulations. There are waiting lists in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire and this causes problems in Beaumont and other hospitals. Private care companies are finding it difficult to recruit staff and Beaumont is finding it difficult to recruit in general because employees would prefer to go to more modern hospitals.

I make no apology for outlining the position relating to Beaumont Hospital. It has been a major issue my constituency and there has been no capital investment-----

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