Dáil debates

Tuesday, 29 January 2019

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Hospital Accommodation Provision

7:05 pm

Photo of Jackie CahillJackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The modular unit that is being provided for South Tipperary General Hospital will be finished by July. It is being provided to ease the pressure until such time as proper capital investment is made in order to provide proper and permanent structures at the facility. The hospital in Clonmel and University Hospital Limerick are regularly listed as having the highest number of patients on trolleys on any given day that the numbers are reported. This means that the hospitals serving Tipperary are the most crowded in the country. This cannot be tolerated much longer by the people of our county. When the modular unit is ready in July, it must be staffed and made operational immediately.

The overcrowding at South Tipperary General Hospital does not exist in a vacuum. Unfortunately, there are many other health service issues in our county which are making the situation worse for the public and for the staff. We have no acute mental health beds in the county despite promises of action. We have little or no step-down beds which is causing bed blocking in the acute system. The ongoing shortage of occupational therapists in our county is holding up the provision of home help hours.

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