Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State quoted many figures. One was the €443 million to cut waiting lists by 10%, yet since the beginning of the year, as I said a few minutes ago, waiting lists have increased by 3% in the Saolta region. Some 3,400 people have been added to the main hospital waiting lists in the region since the start of the year because the shortage of beds is so severe that severely ill patients are admitted and essential surgical and other care has to be cancelled. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association is not just speaking about an overall picture. It is saying, quite clearly, that patient care and patient health in the west and the north west is at risk due to these excessive delays to care. It is worse in the Saolta region than it is anywhere else. The Minister of State quoted statistics about beds. I can only quote what is in front of me from the Irish Hospital Consultants Association. It says just 69 additional inpatient beds have been opened over the past three years at all hospitals in the Saolta group and that amounts to 7% of the national total. We have 16% of the population. According to the IHCA, we are not even getting half the number of beds that we should be getting.

When I raised this issue with the Minister last November, I specifically raised Sligo University Hospital. He talked about looking at progressing the emergency department modular unit, the ICU isolation rooms and the 42-bed ward block extension. Where is this work now? It was at a very early stage last November. Unless we see immediate progress here, we will keep getting these statements from the IHCA. In truth, people in the west and north west are getting worse care than anywhere else in the country. It is simple as that. That is what they are telling us. It is not me saying it. I am just relaying their words.

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