Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I express my disappointment that the Minister, Deputy Harris, is not here. It is déjà vuas this is the fourth time I have had a Topical Issue on pretty much the same matter and the Minister has not yet turned up. Senator Paul Gavan and I requested an urgent meeting with the Minister but we have not had a response to that either. I ask the Minister of State to request the Minister to meet me and Senator Paul Gavan as soon as possible. I am disappointed that the past few times I have had a Topical Issue on practically the same matter, the Minister has not been available. As I say, I have tried to raise a number of times the serious position in this hospital and the way patients are treated.

Today, there are 60 people on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick, with 668 people on trolleys nationally. That is almost another outrageous record. Almost 10% of patients on trolleys across the State are in one hospital in Limerick. The hospital consistently has the highest number of people on trolleys across the State's hospitals, and it was the most overcrowded hospital in the State last year. University Hospital Limerick saw 8,869 people on trolleys last year, which is absolutely disgraceful. My constituents are entitled to an excellent facility that is not chronically overcrowded, the same as all other areas. Unfortunately, it seems they are bottom of the priority list for the Minister, Deputy Harris.

When the new accident and emergency department was scheduled to open in May last year, I tabled a Topical Issue and the Minister, Deputy Harris, was not available at that time either. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, took the question. I indicated the nurses had a serious concern before the opening of the planned accident and emergency department that 24 patients would be accommodated on trolleys and chairs from the get-go in the new department. At the time, the Minister of State rebuffed what I said, dismissing any such suggestions. He said there was no basis for any suggestion that 24 patients would be accommodated on trolleys in the new department. He said that on 25 May 2017 but it has not been borne out as true. Almost every single day there are more than 24 patients accommodated in trolleys in the new accident and emergency department.

The Minister of State may be aware that these problems stem from the downgrading of Ennis, Nenagh, and St. John's hospitals' accident and emergency departments and establishment of a so-called centre of excellence. That has not worked and the facility has been overwhelmed. One might walk into the accident and emergency department at University Hospital Limerick today and explain to the 60 people on trolleys how the plan has not worked.

I raise in particular the full capacity protocol. The Minister of State is well aware this was designed to be an emergency measure to deal with overcrowding and is not supposed to be used every day. It has consequences and it results in patients being put in inappropriate areas of the hospital, leading to overcrowding in wards, cancellation of elective procedures and aggressive discharging. It is not intended to be used every day and become the norm. In University Hospital Limerick it has, unfortunately, become the norm. It was used on 361 days last year, compared with nine days in 2014. Yesterday, we learned the number of patients waiting for outpatient appointments in University Hospital Limerick has increased by a massive 6,786 people in just one year to an astonishing 32,632 people. It is a 26% rise in one year. The Minister has said he has a handle on the health crisis and I am sure that will be in his response when he gets back to me. The number of patients being forced to wait in excess of 18 months for treatment has more than doubled in one year, rising from 1,517 to 4,124.

I commend the nurses, doctors and staff who work in University Hospital Limerick in what can be extremely challenging conditions. I am running out of time but I could stand here for another 20 minutes highlighting the issues. What action will the Minister, Deputy Harris, take to ensure the full capacity protocol is not implemented in University Hospital Limerick almost every single day, which it was in 2017? How will he ensure it is only ever used when there is a genuine emergency?

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