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

I thank the Minister. To clarify, I understand that only half the beds in the 96-bed unit will be new beds and the rest, 48 beds, will be taken out elsewhere. Therefore, there will not be 96 additional beds, unfortunately. I agree with the Minister that there have been a number of beds put in there. However, last week I met the CEO of the hospital and some of the clinical directors there. I also met some of the trade unions which deal with the workers.

In October, there has been an average of 76 patients per day on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick. October 2021 will be the worst month ever in the hospital. That is saying a lot, because we have had historic highs. Already we are at almost 1,000 people. We have nine more days to go. It will, unfortunately, be the highest figure historically in the hospital. Winter is coming and capacity is stretched. It was predicted, although in fairness it was before the Minister’s time, that it was going to increase. I believe there is already in 2021 a 22% increase on 2019 figures. We do not have the beds to deal with it. It is a disaster. I got a phone call yesterday from someone who was in an emergency department and there were 150 people in there at the time.

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