Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I accept that there has been progress in this regard. However, especially at bank holiday weekends, there seems to be a spike in the number of people who cannot get a hospital bed. The figure of 404 or whatever the actual figure is, is too many. We have the situation of hospital beds in the Irish public health system, which is a legacy issue. We all agree there needs to be more bed capacity in Irish hospitals. Since the 1980s and 1990s, there has been a serious reduction in the number of hospital beds per head of population. The recruitment freeze is having an effect on morale because if people want to access the public health system, the capacity is not there at this time. I would like to hear the Minister's views on this

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