Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raised the issue of the overcrowding crisis at University Hospital Limerick with the Taoiseach yesterday. He sought to downplay the severity of the situation. Indeed, listening to Leo Varadkar, you would be forgiven for thinking that the dire problems at the hospital were a figment of people's imaginations. This morning, however, we wake up to the news that the crisis continues. Nearly 100 patients are on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick. The hospital remains in its highest state of escalation. All beds across the hospital group are being used for surge capacity. Surgeries have been deferred for a second day in a row. People are again asked to avoid coming to the emergency department. GPs and pharmacies, which are already under huge strain, are being asked to help alleviate the pressure on the hospital. Day after day, week after week and month after month, vulnerable people are left without a hospital bed, the emergency department is dangerously overcrowded, and doctors and nurses are forced to treat patients in appalling conditions.

In 2007, the Minister's party promised to end the scandal of patients on trolleys. That was the Fine Gael rhetoric. That was nearly 20 years ago, and things have only got worse. There is now a state of emergency for healthcare in Limerick and the mid-west. The writing has been on the wall for months as regards the escalating crisis at University Hospital Limerick, so why has the Government not stepped in? Why has the Minister for Health not stepped in? That is what the people of Limerick and the mid-west are asking. The root cause of the crisis is clear. The Government has not made the necessary investment in University Hospital Limerick. This has created serious and persistent capacity and staffing problems.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach acknowledged that the population of the region is growing. That is true. What he did not acknowledge is that the Government has not increased even the target for bed capacity to meet this reality. The Taoiseach denied the staffing problem, but there is in fact an urgent need to recruit non-consultant doctors, additional nurses and medical staff for the emergency department, and more staff are needed to extend the operating hours of the acute medical unit. Limerick and the mid-west also need protected capacity for planned procedures. We need to know now when the surgical unit promised last summer will be delivered.

The Government needs to act now to relieve the intense, unsustainable pressure at University Hospital Limerick to ensure people can access their hospital and get the care they need in a timely and safe fashion. Tá stad éigeandála in Ospidéal na hOllscoile, Luimneach. Ní mór don Rialtas aghaidh a thabhairt ar an ngéarchéim agus gníomhú éigeandála a thógáil láithreach. The people of Limerick and the mid-west deserve far better than a never-ending crisis at their hospital. First, does the Minister accept that there is a state of emergency at University Hospital Limerick? Second, what action does the Government propose to take immediately to relieve this pressure and finally tackle this crisis?

See this speech in context