Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming in to address this matter, which is very topical. It concerns our accident and emergency departments and the length of our trolley queues, which are growing year on year. Compilation of the numbers started in 2013. Each year they have increased and each month of this year they have increased. It is a year long issue now. The Department of Health today produced its winter plan for 2018 and 2019 to try to address this issue and blunt the peak that occurs between December and March every year. However, the peak is just a peak in a continuing escalation of the crisis in our hospital and emergency departments. In March of this year we had a peak of 714 trolleys. Earlier in November we had a peak of almost 600. This is clearly not just a winter problem; it is a year-round problem. There does not seem to be any improvement in it. The winter plan was produced today, 6 December, which is much too late to deal with the problem this year. It addresses issues which should be addressed the whole year around.

How are the Minister of State and his Government going to address the health service? The trolley count is purely a symptom of what is happening within our health service. The problem is not in our accident and emergency departments. It is throughout our health system. Unfortunately, however, it is manifest in the long delays in people being admitted to hospital. We have an aging population and changing demographics. Some 20,000 people reach the age of 65 every year and the population above the age of 85 is due to double in the next ten years. These are the people who occupy our hospital services and take up most of the time. Yes, it is a tribute to our hospital system that people are living into their old age. Nevertheless we have to try to deal with these acute and chronic illnesses.

We must move away from a system which directs every patient to the hospital service. It is the default position. When people get ill, they end up in our accident and emergency departments. There must be a system which prevents that. Sláintecare is a ten year plan that has still not been implemented. There will be a three year run-in period between the start of the implementation of Sláintecare and its affect on our hospital services. What is this Government going to do to address the crisis?

The bed capacity plan stated that there should be an increase of 2,600 beds over the next ten years. That is predicated on the fact that if we start to reform our health service now we will need 2,600 beds. If we do not reform our health service now we will need 7,000 or 8,000 beds. The issue is inefficiency and a need for integration. We need an electronic healthcare record and a single patient identifier. These will be the first steps in trying to bring efficiency and cost-effectiveness, which is most important, to our health service. Unless we start to do that we will continue to have the trolley numbers that we have. Our system is locked and loaded for the next three years. Unless we start to reform, this problem will continue. Unless we start now, in three years we are going to have the same problem but it will be substantially worse.

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