Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not mean it personally, but that response is exactly why the health service is in a mess. The appointment of the two gentlemen who have been put in charge of Sláintecare does not fill me with confidence.

I refer to University Hospital Galway pre-Covid. Back in 2015, the former Taoiseach told us that it was not fit for purpose. The emergency department remains the same as it was then, except there are more patients attending and fewer staff. Yesterday, Dr. Hickey made a very practical point. He said there are fewer staff, more patients and fewer beds. We have never reached the full complement of beds that we need. In addition, there are no respite services in Galway, as I speak. They have not been reintroduced following the pandemic. As I said yesterday, we can drink and be merry, but we cannot provide respite services. There are astronomical waiting lists. We try to ask questions in a positive way and to work with the system. We say orthopaedics has the longest list and ask what vacancies there are in orthopaedics, and we are told that there are no vacancies in orthopaedics. So, then we ask why there are long waiting lists in orthopaedics. Then we find out that 250 medical and nursing staff are required in the hospital and the Minister was not made aware of that. What type of management is in place that is not making the Minister aware of this? What type of Minister do we have if he is not aware of this? I believe that when we get a Minister who actually feels sick at what is happening, we might make progress. After he or she gets over his or her nausea, he or she might deal with the reality on the ground and start to take action on the matter.

I have a letter with me today from a woman regarding neurology services, and the absence of neurology nurses generally nationally. In Galway, we need 12 of them and we currently have four. I could go on, but I have been doing this since I was elected in February 2016. Perhaps if I stop talking, things might improve. At this point, I do not even want a response from the Minister of State; I would just like him to hear what has been said. Perhaps the Minister could come back to me on this debacle in Galway. Indeed, "debacle" is not even the word that best describes the needless suffering and death of patients on trolleys. There were 41 patients on trolleys yesterday.

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