Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Monday, 130 people were on trolleys in UHL, which is a national scandal. We have had figures close to that before. We had 124 in May and 124 in September. Earlier I heard the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, talk about media reports. I was surprised he did not mention media reports in such a disastrous week for Limerick. I want to put on the record some media reports. A headline on the Live 95 FM website stated, "A record-breaking 130 patients are on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick." The Sunday Worldstated, "Chaotic scenes inside University Hospital Limerick as a record 130 patients languish on trolleys. 'There is no dignity here, that was lost a long time ago'." The Irish Daily Mailstated, "Rush for Covid jab as public bid to keep out of choked hospitals." A Breaking News headline stated "People 'terrified' of attending Limerick hospital due to overcrowding." The Journal stated, "University Limerick Hospital group issues apology over record-breaking overcrowding levels." The Limerick Poststated, "Safe care 'impossible' in dangerous Limerick hospital working environment." Those are some of the media reports in the last 24 hours; I did not record the rest of them.

The Government has clearly given up on University Hospital Limerick and abandoned the people of the mid-west, as I have said on the record before. A total of 18,012 people lingered on trolleys last year. These are not just statistics. These are people we know. They are family members, relations or neighbours of ours. Those 18,012 people were assessed and in need of a bed, but there was no bed available for them. This year it will be worse; it will be more than 20,000 people based on the figures at the moment. October has been the worst month ever and the month is not finished yet. The Minister has given up and has abandoned the mid-west region. There is no plan to get us out of the mess we are in.

Studies show that for every 82 patients who wait for more than six hours, there is one associated death and that happens in Limerick all the time. I was in the hospital recently. It is chaotic and overcrowded. It goes back to the merger and losing of St. John's and the hospitals in Ennis and Nenagh. We were promised a centre of excellence and we got a disaster.

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