Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

RTÉ reported recently, on the basis of figures provided by my constituency colleague, Deputy Cullinane, that the average waiting time for admission through emergency departments in hospitals has increased and now stands at 11.7 hours. It also stated that children and over-75s are waiting up to 13.3 hours. Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients Association correctly pointed out that these are average times. Therefore, we are also talking about people spending 24 hours and more waiting on trolleys to get into hospital beds. The trolley count is 550 each day on average. Some 24,000 hospital appointments and elective procedures were cancelled in April alone. More thank 880,000 people are on the national hospital waiting list and community GP and out-of-hours cover are impacted. All these metrics hardly point to a stellar record on the part of the Government.

I also wish to raise the issue Deputy Cullinane outlined earlier, namely, the 78-year-old Dungarvan woman who was referred by her GP to the emergency department in Waterford in the mistaken belief that some basic, routine diagnostics could be done there. Her GP was unaware of what is happening in Waterford at the moment because of the closure of the emergency department in Wexford General Hospital, as the Minister of State will be well aware. The lady presented for a chest X-ray and some blood tests and ended up sitting on a chair for more than 24 hours. She is 78 years of age. She was diagnosed with heart failure. She did not get a bed or a trolley because none was available. Will the Minister of State ask his colleague whether this is acceptable in a first world country? How does it play out in real life? It can be seen in that case.

Let me tell the Minister of State about my experience. My daughter was concussed recently playing Gaelic football. I had to bring her to the emergency department in the hospital late at night at the end of April. We sat in the new circus tent outside the University Hospital Waterford emergency department where she waited for four and a half hours to be seen. That was fair enough. I have no issue with that, but I have an issue with the fact that it was 0oC outside and the hospital staff were coming out after midnight passing out soup, sandwiches and blankets to the people waiting there. Where else in the country would you see that? Where else would it be supported by this Government? We have been highlighting the capacity problems in the south east for many years. This includes the hospital in the Minister of State's constituency - Wexford General Hospital.

The Waterford University Hospital emergency department has become the busiest in the country in the aftermath of what happened in Wexford. The rate of ambulance presentations every week has increased by 50%. The hospital is seeing 2,500 presentations in the emergency department every week. What support is the Government giving? It has sent some staff from Wexford to help with the rota of hours. What good is that when we do not have beds, trolleys or capacity?

Let me give the Minister of State an idea of capacity. I received four responses to parliamentary questions from the HSE about capacity in the past week. I asked about the long-standing commitment to build outpatient capacity and bed capacity at St. Otteran's Hospital. The project has been ongoing for ten years and in that time we have just managed to put a roof on the building. The HSE responded that it expects the final refurbishment to be completed by the end of next year. That is the earliest possibility for community beds to become available. In another question, I asked about the laboratory extension that has been spoken about since 2016. The response was that a capital submission was received and considered but is not in the HSE capital plan for 2023. It is hoped that it will be provided in the near future once it has gone through critical design stages, subject to the availability of funding and the prioritisation process. We know we are certainly not being prioritised.

I asked the Minister what was happening with the second cardiac cath laboratory and the provision of additional beds. At the end of a long preamble, the final statement tells us what is happening. Work on the development of a second cardiac laboratory project was completed in quarter 4 of 2022. A number of options are currently being appraised with the hospital management with a view to identifying the most suitable solution for the provision of a cardiac day ward at University Hospital Waterford. This is a project that has been planned since 2015. I asked the Minister about concerns about a block of 160 bed units that has been discussed for more than a year. The Minister stated it has been brought to the capital steering group but needs further validation. I am only talking about one hospital, but it is the regional hospital of the south-east region and it caters to a large number of Wexford patients who are the Minister of State's constituents. There is no urgency or good faith on the part of the Government to give us the bed capacity and personnel capacity we wish to have. I commend Sinn Féin on bringing forward a Private Member's motion about hospital waiting lists because, frankly, they are a disgrace and are getting worse.

It is within the gift of Government to solve a large part of the problem. It is about: recruitment; pay; sorting out section 39 agencies and workers; coming to terms on better working conditions; and providing resources to hospital doctors, nurses, specialists and consultants. We are faffing around and having discussion after discussion with the HSE, capital steering groups, appraisal groups and clinician representative groups, but we are not making any progress. I fear we are getting to a tipping point with people rightly calling out what this Government is doing about the situation.

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