Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

If I may I will add some practical solutions on this. One of the big situations we see on a regular basis is that an ambulance arrives at the accident and emergency department with the patient but due to the jam in the accident and emergency department because of overcrowding, or simply because there are not enough trolleys there, the ambulance has to stay at the entrance to the accident and emergency department for one, two or three hours. We then have incredible situations such as in Drogheda hospital one year ago where ten ambulances had to wait for five hours because they could not off-load their patients. I have recently heard of another hospital in Mayo where eight ambulances were stuck there. When those ambulances are stuck they obviously cannot get to the rest of the region to pick up new patients. A very simple thing would be to have just enough trolleys so when the patient is moved into the accident and emergency department from the ambulance trolley there is another trolley there. The ambulance can then be freed up to travel. I am aware this is not the case in every situation and in many situations one needs the necessary medical staff to be able to deal with the patient for the patient to be accepted but that is one of the major pinch points where ambulances are stuck at the accident and emergency departments and are not free to go about their work.

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