Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I 100% acknowledge the work that the staff and medical professionals within hospitals are involved in. My critique is of the lack of Government investment and the lack of reform in the HSE. The newspapers are full of this. Today'sIrish Examiner states, "A woman has told how she watched as her husband tried to resuscitate their 21-year-old daughter after she collapsed at home just hours after being discharged from University Hospital Limerick." RTÉ's website reports today that the HSE has "apologised to the mother of a boy over injuries he suffered after a battery was stuck in his throat for nine days before an X-ray was carried out". Another headline from RTÉ this week stated, "Woman died after surgery by two trainees". On Twitter, we see a disability advocate, Courtney Manning, had metal plates put into her leg that her body has rejected and that she needs removed. She is in constant pain and is vomiting due to morphine but the National Orthopaedic Hospital has said that she is no longer its patient. She has resorted to sending pictures of her body, which is rejecting these metal plates, to politicians.

We see from talking to family and friends, from our constituencies and communities and from newspapers, television and radio that there are serious problems with people suffering adverse incidents in hospitals and with people waiting for so long that they are not getting the necessary treatment. We need to get to the bottom of this to make sure this does not happen in our hospitals in future.

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