Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely unacceptable to all of us that hundreds of patients are on trolleys for long periods of time, especially patients who are elderly and vulnerable. It also means extremely difficult working conditions for front-line staff. We heard comments this morning from the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine. The trolley numbers for January are lower this year than last year. Nevertheless, it is an unacceptable situation.

The Minister for Health is determined to break the cycle we have seen previous Governments try to break. He is determined to break that cycle so that we do not continue to see that situation. He has outlined the three areas needed to deal with this problem. The bed capacity review is under way to examine precisely the type of new beds that are needed, whether it is high dependency and so on. He is working with all the relevant organisations. We have to continue to recruit. The Minister is in discussions with the nursing organisations and trade unions to see how we can accelerate recruitment because that is part of solving a very important aspect of the problem. The difficulties in that regard are well documented. Dealing with the new general practitioner contract that is needed is essential because the development of primary care services are part of the answer to this problem.

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