Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is clear Connolly Hospital is in crisis. Everybody will be shocked by some of the reports that have come out in the past week alone. I raised this matter with the Tánaiste some weeks ago when a concerned member of staff contacted me about the closure of the endoscopy unit in Connolly Hospital, which had been under serious pressure. I wrote to the hospital and received an email in reply stating, "As part of the HSE Winter Unscheduled Care Planning in Connolly Hospital, elective procedures have been temporarily reduced for the month of January." I sent the email from Connolly Hospital to the person who contacted me and who had obviously listened to the exchange between the Tánaiste and me on the day in question. The individual in question wrote:

It needs to be addressed that Connolly does not have enough beds for the population it is serving [the Minister of State should bear in mind that this was several weeks ago]. The ED department is under huge pressure all the time and the numbers being returned are not reflecting the true situation. The hospital are using the line that procedures have been cancelled due to the winter initiative if that is the case the winter has been going on since last winter. They are outsourcing procedures to other hospitals ... However there are still large numbers waiting and referrals still coming in.

That was two weeks ago. We have since had other reports.

Speaking on the radio the other morning, the INMO's Phil Ní Sheaghdha described the conditions in Connolly Hospital as "inhumane". She said: "When the HSE does not plan knowing what happens every winter this is the type of immediate reactionary solutions that hospitals are trying to find because there simply isn’t enough capacity.”

A member of staff put their neck on the line by saying there is a serious crisis in the endoscopy unit and also mentioned the emergency department. The nurses organisation has said the conditions in Connolly Hospital are inhumane. Another nurse, who contacted Dublin Live, described the situation there as “chaotic” and a danger to patients. She said:

Moving patients into these totally inappropriate areas is not fair on patients or staff. This room has been set up as a ward but there’s no bell if someone becomes ill and there’s no extra staff allocated.

There’s no toilet or shower facilities and there’s also a very long walk down a corridor to the nearest toilet. This area was never in a million years for people to stay over[night], never mind use it as a ward.

They have recently repurposed it in the hope to get around 12 patients in there. It means there are no physiotherapy facilities for people recovering ...

They have repurposed a physiotherapy gym to deal with the overcrowding in Connolly Hospital. This is really serious. We know that people die in emergency departments if they are on trolleys and not getting appropriate care. I do not know how anyone could not feel shocked listening to the stories from the staff, the people who work there. It is utterly shocking.

See this speech in context