Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I accept that money has been put into the health service - there is no doubt about it - but we are coming from a very low level in the first place. The national lCU audit annual report specifically stated there are just six critical care beds per 100,000 people, after a record level of money into the health service. That is less than half of the OECD average of 14.1.

The reality is these two women, one of whom has waited for her operation since 2019 according to replies I have received from St. James's Hospital, are still waiting, even though I received a reply in June that one woman would be seen by her consultant in the hospital. One woman is still waiting because the hospital cannot organise to have post critical care beds in place after her operation. She has been told the operation will last for at least five hours because they have to put all of the organs back into place before they can sort out the hernia. It does not matter whether this is about one woman or 20 women or men. The fact is that, on the ground, it is not happening and people are waiting because of the lack of ICU beds or because they cannot be linked in with their operations. That is the reality. That has to be dealt with.

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