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

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion, which highlights that the expected budget deficit in health for 2024 will be in the region of €1.4 billion to €1.5 billion. I listened to the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, explain that many of the cost overruns in the health service were caused by the fact doctors are treating more patients than allocated or expected. He spoke about the higher cost of drugs. If that is the case, surely he and the Minister for Finance knew we faced this deficit. According to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, it is not a question of waste but of higher costs. It is not inefficiency; it is efficiency and treating more patients. Why could he not persuade the Minister for Finance he needed the extra funding to cover existing levels of service adequately?

From what we are hearing, it is likely there will be cutbacks. I am especially concerned by reports that the HSE wrote to private home help service providers about two weeks ago. The Minister of State is shaking her head. I am delighted to see that because I do not want any cutbacks in home help services. I hope the fact the Minister of State is shaking her head means that cutbacks will not happen. It would be madness if they did. It would mean that more elderly people would end up in hospital accidentally, would have to stay longer and could not leave because they would not have a proper home care package in place. They might have to go to a nursing home, so it makes no sense for those people or the State that there would be an intervention like that.

I will wait to hear from the Minister of State, but I am pleased with the signals.

Whenever I get the opportunity to speak on health, I want to emphasise that the five hospitals with the highest numbers on trolleys are all along the Atlantic coast. We have already heard and know that Limerick always tops that list, but it is followed by Cork, Sligo University Hospital, Letterkenny and Galway. I looked at the September 2020 figures and compared them to September 2022 and September 2021. I found the same five hospitals had the highest numbers of patients on trolleys. While Limerick always has the highest numbers, Sligo, while often in third or fourth place, is the second worst consistently for a very simple reason. It has far fewer acute beds than any of the other hospitals. That means the situation in Sligo is worse.

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