Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the trolley crisis in our public healthcare system. We see 572 patients in hospitals without a bed this morning, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO. Some 100,000 people have gone without a bed so far this year. The public health service is in danger of collapse if this trolley crisis is not resolved.

I was in Limerick on Monday and I heard from many people there about the chronic overcrowding and waiting list problems in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. Can the Taoiseach and the Minister guarantee some sort of plan to address this chronic issue in our hospitals across the country, in particular the serious issue with UHL in Limerick, but also more generally? How can we guarantee that coming into this winter we will not see a complete collapse in capacity in public hospitals, particularly in emergency departments? We are also seeing elective surgeries being cancelled, waiting lists for children’s care and waiting lists spiral across the sector. What is the plan for the winter and specifically for Limerick?

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