Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Mayo University Hospital waiting list increased by 162% from July 2015 to July 2021. It takes 712 days for people to get general surgery there. There are severe regional imbalances to be addressed. I have listened to what the Minister has said and one of those was about delivering care close to home. I ask the Minister to talk to the workers and managers who have been appointed to make the decisions because they are closing down every local service they possibly can, including Belmullet Community Hospital. We need some joined-up thinking. That is what they are doing and the Minister needs to go and see them and confront them. The Minister for Health needs to prevent this from happening. We have been fighting for Belmullet Community Hospital for years and its closure has the impact of people going to Mayo University Hospital, taking up beds there and trying to get treatment in the acute hospital there. There is a total lack of cohesion and integration between primary care, social care and acute care and that has to be addressed.

I commend the staff. I am conscious that every time we stand up here to speak, there are front-line workers who are absolutely exhausted and worn out. Many of them, in their droves, have told me they cannot take any more and will leave. They do not leave because they do not like the job they are doing but because they cannot stand it any longer. One will have that at all levels of front-line workers because there are not enough of them in it to do the jobs.

They do not have the equipment, more often than not. They do not have basic equipment to do their job. Consultants and surgeons are standing by and do not have the recovery beds to take the patient in or the equipment to do the job. This is disgraceful, given the money we put into the health service. It has to be addressed. Systems have to be there. Who is accountable? We cannot find who is accountable within the system. Nobody is accountable. Is my time up? I apologise. I did not cover half of what I wanted to cover.

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