Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Once again I want to thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to speak about health. There are many times when one could be given to despair making the same speeches over and over. Today, I confirm what my colleagues have said. The west of Ireland is the worst, with the exception of Cork hospital. Limerick hospital has the highest number of patients on trolleys. The hospital in Galway has 44 patients on trolleys, 36 in the accident and emergency department and eight hidden away on wards. I have made the same speeches over and over.

I have a letter from consultant orthopaedic surgeons addressed to the Minister. Mr. Fergus Byrne wrote the letter in March 2019. He told us that he could not stand over the situation which was becoming unbearable, and that there was a catastrophic waiting list of 2,000 patients which was beyond management and so on. I read the letter into the record at the time.

When we spoke about the hospital system in Galway, I foolishly relaxed because the options appraisal said a brand new hospital in Merlin Park would be built. Fast forward to 2023, and nothing has happened. There was another options appraisal which decided to build and keep building on the site of the regional hospital. That is exactly what happened. When I asked the person in charge about this, the person said we despaired. There was no money coming for a hospital in Merlin Park. The site comprises 150 acres.

The Ministers of State know that what we have now is a jigsaw without a picture. There are many pieces. In Merlin Park there will be a surgical hub and an elective hospital, which are welcome. There is no overall plan. On the congested regional site, we are building ad nauseam. Nobody really knows what is happening there. I have a history of the accident and emergency department which I do not have time to read out.

The former Minister for Health, who is now the Taoiseach, said in 2014 that a new building was the only solution to the problems in UHG. It is 2023 and we are still waiting, not for a new hospital because that has gone off the agenda, which is absolutely wrong, but rather a new accident and emergency department. That became something else with maternity and children's services. None of that has happened. In the meantime, a temporary accident and emergency department was added to the hospital.

I welcome some of the progress that has been made on Sláintecare. However, it is an obscenity to have people on trolleys. How many people in the Departments of Finance or Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform have spent any time on a trolley? I would like them to tell us that. How many Ministers have spent time on trolleys? The average times in Galway are one, two, three or four days. We know that worsens mortality and morbidity rates among patients.

The NTPF was established in 2002, 21 years ago. That is usually the age of reason when we learn to be reasonable. Some 21 years later, we are still funding the private healthcare sector and helping hospitals to make a profit. We are doing that inside and outside of the country, as well as in the North. That was supposed to be a temporary measure. When we are not doing that, we are allowing waiting lists to build. The very doctors who are not seeing public patients on public lists are now seeing them on a private list, sometimes in public hospitals and at other times in private hospitals.

It was brought to my attention recently that somebody with unbearable pain who required a hip replacement was on a public waiting list and had to borrow €12,000 from his family to have an operation done by the very same consultant who could not do it when he was on the public waiting list. I could go on. It is very difficult.

I would be happy to work with the Ministers of State if I could see some commitment to a public health system with access for all. However, the hypocrisy in the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Government regarding this is very difficult. We constantly fund the private system, including private radiology. The exact same thing is happening with primary care. We are privatising the primary care system.

See this speech in context