Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week the Government managed to set another record: 714 citizens were left on trolleys. I did not think that, even under the stewardship of this Government, it would get that bad. I believed that, as someone who has a fair amount of experience of the health service, I was unshockable but the Government has managed to shock even me.

Last Monday, the general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, said:

We saw record trolley figures last week with a total of 3,112 in just one week and today each daily total from that week has been surpassed by the extraordinary figure of 714 admitted patients on trolleys today... This upsurge was predictable and the INMO warned against inaction or insufficient action in the wake of Storm Emma. It is unfortunate for both healthcare staff and patients that these warnings were not heeded and that emergency measures sought have not been put in place.

It is unfortunate for health care staff and patients that these warnings were not heeded. We see yet again a predictable crisis.

The Government has blamed the flu, the patients, the staff and I am sure now the Minister of State will blame the storm. The truth is there is a lack of capacity within the system. This year there has been a bed capacity review and the passing of a Sinn Féin motion detailing measures that will make an appreciable difference but we have not seen any action on either of these events. There is a state of emergency whereby elective surgery and planned procedures are cancelled but all that does is store up problems for later in the month or the year. We would like to hear from the Minister of State what exactly the Government has planned to deal with a very predictable crisis which has now become a perpetual crisis.

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