Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State said a number of beds had been opened at UHL. Will he indicate how many beds have been closed at the hospital? I understand a ward was closed which had a similar number of beds to the number that have been opened. As I said, a full capacity protocol is being used every single day. A total of 11,437 sick patients have spent time on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick in the last year. This is the highest figure in the State. As I stated, there are 60 people on trolleys in the hospital today, the highest number in the State, and 34,133 people are on waiting lists at the hospital. Fine Gael has been in government for eight years, during which time the situation at University Hospital Limerick has deteriorated substantially. The number of people on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick increased by 212% between 2011 and 2018.

I put it to the Minister of State that we need additional beds immediately in the form of the 60-bed modular unit and the 96-bed extension. It should not have taken this long. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister to agree to prioritise the fast-tracking of the additional beds that are urgently needed in Limerick?

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