Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Covid-19 has shown that we need capacity and bed numbers to keep patients safe and away from risk. Sadly, this is not the case at present. Galway University Hospital has long had an issue with capacity, which means that, as the Minister of State knows, most families in Galway have had a loved one stay on a trolley rather than in a hospital bed. Indeed, it was this capacity issue that left us on the back foot at the onset of the pandemic and it still impacts on our fight against Covid-19 now. It was horrifying to see that once again this month there were hundreds of people lying on hospital trolleys in Galway and across the west. These are not just numbers, but real people. We have to finally deal with the capacity issue and support the tremendous work that is being done by staff who are dealing with overcrowded conditions daily as they try to do their best for the patients who are admitted to Galway University Hospital.

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