Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thought the Minister was in the Opposition for a few minutes because he outlined all the things that need to be done. However, the fact of the matter is a large portion of his Government has been in power since 2011 and all the current failings have been there since then.

I received an email recently from a constituent, Elaine, regarding her six-year-old son who fell ill and had to go to Caredoc in Sligo. Caredoc has its own problems. She waited several hours before her son was seen there. Finally, it was recognised that he needed to go to the emergency department. He was sent there and waited from 6 p.m. until 11.30 p.m. to get an operation to treat a perforated appendix. The one surgeon on call had to hunt up and down through the hospital to get a surgical team together in order to carry out that operation. The family have said how grateful they are for that surgeon and his efforts because that saved the child's life. His mother says in her email that this begs the question as to what would have happened if they had been unable to gather a team or if the one surgeon on call was already in surgery with another patient.

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