Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The current situation in our hospitals is devastating and completely unacceptable. Our health service is at breaking point and it is clear that total collapse is not far away. The overcrowding crisis is catastrophic and will continue to get worse if drastic measures are not taken as soon as possible. Yesterday, Letterkenny University Hospital in my constituency was the second-worst affected hospital in the country with 54 patients waiting on trolleys. I cannot imagine how stressful the situation is for those 54 people and their families. It is not only totally inhumane to have so many left waiting for a bed, it is also extremely dangerous. It is estimated that hundreds of people die in Ireland each year due to the overcrowding situation.

This Government and previous Governments should be ashamed of themselves. The severe shortage of beds in our hospitals is not a new problem. It has been raised in this Chamber every winter for decades. Unsurprisingly, the politicians behind the crisis have not changed either and that says it all. We had the Taoiseach as Minister for Health from 2014 to 2016 and the Tánaiste as Minister for Health from 2000 to 2004. Not only have things not improved in more than 20 years, they have gotten worse.

The Tánaiste will remember the capacity review conducted in 2002 after which the Government committed to providing for an additional 3,000 acute hospital beds. Despite this commitment to provide more beds, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have not only not followed through on this, they have allowed the number to drop continuously over the past two decades, with a significant dip after 2008.

The Government always says the Opposition has never proposed solutions. In the past year, I have proposed that the Minister look to employ Cuban doctors to alleviate the crisis within the health service which is feasible and doable and which other European countries do all the time. Portugal, Italy and Sweden have done it all. I have written to the Minister, but have not got a reply. He has not even responded and acknowledged having received the letter with regard to this. It is there, if the Minister asks for it. Those doctors can help to alleviate the problems we have in the short term, while we are trying to implement the other measures with regard to graduating further doctors. That could be done but, obviously, the Minister is not interested.

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