Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A report published by HIQA this morning is a damning indictment of Government health policy. It states emergency departments are now under "unprecedented strain", echoing the concerns of the INMO that our hospitals face a nightmare winter. Last month was the worst November on record for hospital overcrowding. Twelve thousand six hundred and twenty-four patients were on trolleys. The HIQA report cites that one patient in University Hospital Limerick was left waiting nearly five days for a bed. That is not a unique case. Every Deputy in the Dáil has stories of patients who were left on trolleys for days on end. Chronic overcrowding creates dangerous situations, and HIQA highlights how patients must often wait far too long to be triaged for care.

It is the incompetence and inaction of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, that are at the centre of this crisis. After two and a half years in office, he has failed to do what needs to be done. First, patients cannot get admitted because a quarter of the beds promised by the Government more than two years ago have not been delivered. Second, the Minister has not solved the delayed discharge problem. There are as many delayed discharges in the system as there are patients on trolleys. Patients cannot be discharged from hospital because of the lack of community recovery and step-down beds. Third, the Minister has failed to solve the crisis in home care. We now have more than 5,000 older people on home care waiting lists. This has been brewing for years, and it sees older people pushed into hospitals and nursing homes when they should be cared for in their own homes. There are no carers available to them because the Minister has failed to plan a sufficient workforce and address long-term pay and conditions issues that have harmed recruitment and retention. At the same time, people can hardly see a GP anymore. This exerts even more pressure on hospitals and emergency departments.

If progress is ever going to be made, the Government must get serious about delivering the right care in the right place and at the right time. This means urgently building bed capacity in our hospitals. It means rapidly increasing the number of community and step-down beds. We need a clear plan to address the lack of GPs and deficits in primary care. Crucially, the Government must invest in home care for our older people.

Taispeánann tuarascáil HIQA inniu gur tharla an róphlódú sna hospidéil go díreach de bharr teip an Aire, an Teachta Stephen Donnelly, sa phleanáil. Teip iomlán atá ann chun tuilleadh leapacha sa bhreis a chur ar fáil, agus tá an easpa infheistíochta i gcúram pobail agus baile ag cur brú ar an gcóras as a dtagann iarmhairtí tromchúiseacha. The Government's lack of planning and urgency in getting to grips with the bottlenecks in our hospitals must end.

I have some questions. The Minister for Health promised 51 additional consultants for our emergency departments. How many are now in place? For months, the Minister has promised an action plan to tackle hospital overcrowding. We have seen neither hide nor hair of it. Where is this plan? Can the Minister explain why one in four beds promised by the Government over two years ago has yet to materialise? When will we see these come on stream?

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