Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise the issue of capacity in our hospitals. Today we learned from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, there are 556 people waiting for a bed in an acute hospital, whether it be in an emergency department, on corridors or in wards. Yesterday I received a reply from the HSE regarding late discharges and we learned that up to 24 September this year there were 55,000 late discharges, which is equivalent to approximately 1,500 per week. We are at a crisis level in our capacity to cope before we even see the winter surge. If we could deal with the late discharges, it could free up capacity in the accident and emergency departments. What steps will the Government take to try to ensure we can deal with late discharges? There is no doubt that if we could free up capacity at the end of a person's stay in hospital when they are fit and deemed ready to go home, it would free up capacity in accident and emergency departments. Special emphasis should be put on addressing this issue.

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