David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

All of that is necessary. However, I would like to see what is in the short-term plan about which the Minister is talking. I have visited a number of hospitals, as the Minister knows. I have attended 15 in total in the past year. I know the Minister has attended some as well. Some hospitals have taken a zero-tolerance approach to patients on hospital trolleys. In fact, in my own constituency of Waterford, there have been no patients on trolleys for the whole year. It does not mean that people are not waiting too long in emergency departments but very clear action was taken. I know that a hospital in Drogheda, for example, has got to grips with what was happening in its emergency department and the trolley situation involved. The last thing it wants is more pressure and that is why there is controversy around closing the emergency department in Navan. We need short-term plans but without medium- to long-term structural changes that will bed in community care, provide alternative care pathways and increase admission avoidance, we are going to see more pressure on our emergency departments.

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