Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Our emergency departments are the point where this is most obvious on a daily basis. The Minister can pick out statistics to show there has been a small reduction in the number of people on trolleys so far in November, but the overall position points to the fact that our hospitals simply do not have sufficient capacity. I refer to the numbers of beds, clinicians and front-line staff dealing with patients. That is manifesting itself in the consistent need to keep elderly people on trolleys for long periods. Front-line staff are saying that this is jeopardising patient safety. With the onset of winter, the concern is that this could have profound implications for the ability of our emergency departments to cope in the event of an outbreak of flu or the winter vomiting bug. I do not believe we are prepared to deal with that if it happens, as it probably will.

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