Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week in an interview with "Morning Ireland", Dr. Fergal Hickey pointed out that 300 to 350 people die every single year as a result of having been placed on hospital trolleys. He referred to the excessive mortality rate because of the warehousing of people on trolleys. He said the system was sending out a message that the abnormal has become normal. He said the system has been run down consistently since 1997 and a shortage of beds kills people.

The previous day, on Wednesday, less than a week ago, 528 people could not get a hospital bed and there were 545 delayed discharges from hospitals. Dr. Fergal Hickey suspected the figure was greater. Remember, he pointed out, it is only November and winter comes every year, although it seems to take each Government by surprise. Leaving an over-75 year old patient on a hospital trolley for more than 12 hours leads to a longer stay in hospital, a number of medical complications and a much less likely chance of going home. Dr. Fergal Hickey said between 50 and 60 people are regularly on trolleys in Galway and Limerick hospitals.

In that context, the nurses are planning to go on strike because of intolerable conditions. University Hospital Galway is, supposedly, a centre of excellence, serving a region of 1 million people but it has only one MRI scanner. It has extraordinary lists for outpatients. The clinical director has said the hospital is not fit for purpose. This is the same hospital that the Taoiseach could not find time to visit on his two recent visits to Galway. Instead, he visited a private establishment. Prior to the general election, he visited the hospital's accident and emergency department, as did the leader of Fianna Fáil, and said it was not fit for purpose.

The accident and emergency department, a report on which was never published, is simply a symptom of a malfunctioning system. A review is under way at University Hospital Galway into an amputation performed in a general ward recently.

It has just completed a review of approximately 200 patients that raises most serious concerns over the surgery carried out. Patients died in two cases and most serious concerns were raised regarding four. It is stated that in two cases of the four that caused great concern, the course of action by the surgeon led to the need for further surgery and caused untold suffering and hastened and the demise of both patients. There are references to a lack of care, a lack of basic care, and a lack of follow-up care. The system is malfunctioning because it is being constantly run down. I ask the Taoiseach not to waffle to me. He should please hear what I am saying and tell me he will visit the hospital, unplanned, as a matter of urgency and that he will take immediate action on operational issues concerning resources and the need for a new hospital, for which the clinical director has asked at a meeting of an Oireachtas committee last week and last year.

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