Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak about an email I received from a constituent this morning. It reads as follows:

Hi Mark

Just want to touch base with you with a situation I experienced while in A and E in Tallaght hospital due to mental health issues on Sunday with my 17yr old Son. We went into Tallaght hospital by Ambulance on Sunday due to his suicidal thoughts and psychotic outbursts, they left us waiting 9 hours before he walked out of the hospital. Now he won't go back to the hospital to see the CAMHS doctor that he needs to see as he thinks he will be waiting hours again. The mental health service is disgraceful for people, I'm at my wits end trying to get him the help he needs.

This is not a unique situation. I receive emails like this all the time. If this 17-year-old boy had a cut on the outside of his head he would more than likely have been cared for, but because he had an issue going on inside rather than outside his head, he was left waiting indefinitely. Imagine the mental anguish this boy was suffering while he was waiting for those nine hours. Due to the Government's mismanagement of mental health services, this situation will happen more often. The reality is that people have gone to accident and emergency departments, left without getting mental health services, and have never been able to return.

I also want to talk about another constituent of mine. I spoke to her daughter this morning who informed me that her 64-year-old mother was left waiting on an ambulance for an hour and half with a suspected stroke. Her mother has a history of aneurysm and she then spent 76 hours on a trolley in Tallaght Hospital waiting for admission to the stroke ward. Her mother also has Alzheimer’s. Here we have a 64-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s and a history of aneurysms, left waiting for three days and three nights on a trolley to get admitted to a stroke ward. Situations like this did not happen overnight. The current Minister for Health and three former Ministers for Health sit around the Cabinet table. Years of mismanagement and a lack of political will has led to a crisis like this. Due to the Minister's decision this year to chronically underfund health, things are just going to get worse.

I do not usually speak about the personal situations of people. I got permission today from these patients to speak on their behalf. I usually speak about statistics and policies. This happens every day. There is not a Deputy sitting beside me who does not receive emails similar to this every day. Something needs to change. The Minister needs to resource health.

See this speech in context