John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

All Deputies have received representations from constituents who have family members in hospital awaiting discharge, in respect of whom they are seeking home help provision or access to residential care under the fair deal scheme. I will give some figures in this regard. According to the HSE, on Tuesday of last week the number of delayed discharges was 745, which is more than the number of people on trolleys. At that point, approximately 360 of that 745 had been waiting more than a month for discharge and 79 people had been waiting for more than six months.

Let us picture it. Last Tuesday, 79 people who had been ready for discharge before St. Patrick's Day were still in hospital. The problem is significant. In previous replies, the Minister mentioned increased capacity. These people want to move on. They do not want to be in hospital. They want to either move home with the support they need or move to nursing homes or step-down facilities. There are people on delayed discharge for extended periods, not a day or two, which I could understand. Half of that number - 360 people - had been waiting for discharge for more than a month while 79 people had been waiting for discharge since before St. Patrick's Day.

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