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

I thank the Minister of State for his response, although it is clear not enough is being done in the area. We need to reduce the time people spend both waiting for a hospital bed and in hospitals. Those who are fit and healthy enough to return home should be allowed to do so, but in many cases this is not possible. The health Minister has previously stated that a seven-day-a-week discharge regime will be used and I concur with him on that, but as yet that has not been properly put in place. We must be creative and understand that care within the community can contribute to a reduction in wait times and a reduction in the number of days spent by individual patients on trolleys in UHL. The pathfinder programme to which the Minister of State referred and other community initiatives can help many elderly patients who are forced to present at emergency departments for issues that could and should be attended to at home or within the community. Such treatments lessen the stress on these patients associated with having to be present at the emergency department and improves the capacity of the hospital. Unfortunately, older people are attending the emergency department, and while I would encourage anybody who is sick to go there, they are spending hours and hours on trolleys. It is like a circus. Trolleys bash off one another, there is no space in the hallways, and staff cannot give appropriate care due to the lack of space, the number of people who are presenting and the failure of the Government over the years to deliver the services we need and the number of beds we need.

The Government’s plan has for a new 96-bed unit that will actually deliver 48 new beds. That is not going to happen for another two years, so we will be left with two more years of this crisis, which is only getting worse. There is no plan to get us out of this. We have been talking about it for seven years and, as I said, every year it is getting worse. Every month there is a new record. Every month last year, with the exception of one month when there was an intervention, which has already been passed, was a record-breaking month for the number of people on trolleys in UHL. It is incredibly difficult for the staff to work there. They are overwhelmed and understaffed and the hospital authorities tell us an additional 200 beds are needed to bring it up to the national average, but the Government has a plan for only 48 beds in the next two years.

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