Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. However, the full capacity protocol is in operation in Galway. Code black is the one it is using. The hospital is in crisis, notwithstanding anything the Minister of State has told me in this reply. That is the position in Galway. The money for the home care packages has been used up and no money is available to provide the necessary home care packages for patients who cannot be discharged from the hospital. The manager in charge of home care packages must make cutbacks to save further money.

I am not here to scaremonger but to argue for a public health system in Galway. Will the Minister of State respond to the concerns I have raised about the full capacity protocol? Hospital management has said no funding is available for the 75-bed unit and it will remain empty, other than the 25 beds to be taken from the hospital which reduces its capacity. There is no quid pro quogain. No funding is available for the new ward. The home care packages cannot be delivered. Somebody on the oncology ward cannot go home because there is no home care package. It makes no sense on a human or health level. More importantly, it does not make sense on an economic level because it is costing more money to keep a patient in the general hospital. It makes more sense to put the money into home care packages.

What is the Minister of State’s response to my request for a new hospital for Galway? What is her response to the risk identified that the condition of the hospital places it number one on the risk register for Galway?

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