Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that we have a long-standing problem with overcrowding in our emergency departments which we have faced for probably two decades at this stage. As a doctor and a grandson, I certainly do not want to see any citizens or patients spending prolonged amounts of time on trolleys waiting for hospital beds. There were 391 patients on trolleys this morning at 8 waiting for admission to a bed. While that is an increase of about 28% on last year, it is much the same as it was two years ago and most of those patients will be in beds by this evening.

As is always the case, there are big variations from hospital to hospital. There are as few as two or three patients on trolleys in Portiuncula, in Mullingar, in Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown and as many as 36 in St. Vincent's University Hospital. We see huge variation from hospital to hospital, notwithstanding the fact that the same issues and challenges arise in every hospital. We see once again that the RCSI hospital group which includes Beaumont Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown and Cavan General Hospital is outperforming all of the other hospital groups. The number of patients on trolleys in that hospital group is at a record low if not a ten-year low and that shows the extent to which this is about clinical leadership and management as much as it is about resources and other issues.

To answer the Deputy's question on new beds, 240 new beds have been opened. That consists of 22 in St. Vincent's University Hospital, 29 in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, 17 in University Hospital Limerick, 28 in University Hospital Galway, 19 in University Hospital Waterford, 20 in Beaumont Hospital, 23 in St. James's Hospital, 24 in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, 11 in Naas General Hospital, 30 in Cork University Hospital, and 14 in St. Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny. It was not possible to spend all of the money for many different reasons but much of the money was spent in opening those 240 beds.

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