Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If ever there were proof needed that our health service needed reform, it would be the fallout from the cervical screening crisis. If trust is to be restored, we need full disclosure from CervicalCheck, the HSE and the Minister. We need it quickly.

One of the great barometers of the effectiveness of our service is emergency department overcrowding. INMO figures show a record number of patients on trolleys in 2018 by comparison with a similar period in 2017. There was a rise of 19%. This is a key performance indicator for our health service, yet the figures continue to spiral out of control. In March 2018, the total number of people waiting for an outpatient appointment was the highest ever recorded. Almost 150,000 were waiting for over a year, with 75,547 of them left waiting for longer than 18 months.

Ireland's three children's hospitals have 9,246 people waiting for over a year and a half. These figures are simply scandalous. With regard to child and adolescent waiting lists, recent figures show there were 6,181 children waiting for a primary care psychology appointment at the end of January 2018. Of young people waiting, 1,635 had been waiting for over a year to be seen. This effectively means that the children spent all of 2017 waiting for an appointment. The figures demonstrate the ongoing crisis in the provision of mental health services for our children.

There are other points I wanted to make but we have one more speaker who wishes to contribute.

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