Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to express my sympathies to the family of Aoife Johnston and the families of many others who died in terrible circumstances.

I support the motion. Those in our group have continuously highlighted serious concerns about the chronic overcrowding at UHL for several years, especially my colleague from Limerick Deputy O'Donoghue. The Minister for Health's neglect of this emergency has left many patients without necessary care, and some have died. Day after day, we witness delays in care for numerous elective patients, as numbers at UHL's emergency department have spiralled and reached an unacceptable level. There were 80,133 emergency department attendances in 2023, which is an average of 219 per day. UHL is the most overcrowded hospital in the country. This is not a new problem, yet no improvements are evident. This year, in fact, matters are worsening.

We saw it last week in the Cork-Kerry region, where the National Ambulance Service tried to cut our ambulance services. The Minister had to step in and have the decision reversed. It is easy to know that an election is on the way. Would that have happened if there was not? That is the question. The problem we have now is that patients, many of whom are elderly, need long-term bed care cannot get it in either community hospitals or nursing homes. This is happening in my constituency, and I heard another Deputy refer to it earlier. People cannot get beds. Numerous people are begging to come out and their families have been told to take them out of the medical units at Bantry General Hospital and other hospitals. However, they cannot get either nursing home or community hospital beds because we have not invested. While we have invested in improving community hospitals, we have not invested in increasing bed capacity in situations where our ageing population is increasing. We have a crisis situation.

In west Cork, we lost Belgooly nursing home. Deputy Healy-Rae was praised, but we got no help with Belgooly, other than to get the patients out as fast as possible. It was like they were hit with a brush in an effort to get them into other nursing homes. It was a case of their being put anywhere - it did not matter if a loved one lived next door to them. The families had to accept it. If they did not, they took their loved ones home. That was what they were told in Belgooly, and it was terrible. Now, 18 months later, there are all sorts of rumours about what is going to happen to the building there. That facility should have been taken over by the HSE. That was the opportunity. It would have been a fantastic investment and it would have guaranteed beds for elderly people. It is the same with Bantry nursing home, which was under Aperee and which is now in the hands of a very good receiver that is very good to its staff, patients and their families.

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