David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The patterns in the rest of Europe do not match with what is happening here in all areas. There is no good reason so many people are on trolleys if one hospital can arrive at a position where people are not on trolleys. Waterford is a very busy hospital serving a population of nearly 500,000. It has additional pressures now because of what happened in Wexford. If it can be done in one hospital, surely it can be done in others.

Undoubtedly, there are capacity issues in other hospitals. We will get a chance to talk to the Minister about University Hospital Waterford and capital plans that are not being expedited, which need to be expedited shortly as well. These are real issues.

Three things need to be done. First, the culture of how some hospitals are run and managed has to be changed. The seven-day rostering is only part of that. Much more needs to be done. Workforce planning is also crucial. Much more needs to be done in ratcheting up training places. Crucially, capacity, both in hospitals and community care, is needed.

People need to see the benefits of the additional investments because it frustrates and angers them when patients are waiting as long as they are in emergency departments.

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