Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The trolley crisis has become an all-year scandal on the watch of this Government. A total of 98 patients were counted by nurses on trolleys and chairs at Cork University Hospital this morning, many of them elderly and quite unwell. This is a record, according to the INMO. A total of 118 were counted at University Hospital Limerick, which continues to be a disaster zone. In the five budgets under this Government, it has failed to tackle overcrowding in our hospitals. Níl an Rialtas tar éis aon dul chun cinn a dhéanamh sna cáinaisnéisí atá caite. Tá trí rud de dhíth ar an Rialtas. The Government needs to task HIQA with choosing a suitable location for the second emergency department in the mid-west, fast-track additional bed capacity for hospitals like Limerick and Cork and support GPs and community healthcare to take pressure off our acute hospitals. Does the Minister accept this is an emergency? Will the Government treat it as an emergency that we are facing this situation so early in this season?

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