Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I try to deal with the actual reality on the ground. I wish to highlight that due to severe staff shortages and lack of property facilities, there is now a seven-week waiting list to start chemotherapy in University Hospital Galway. There are now 31 patients in the regional hospital in Galway with nowhere to go while beds in Carraroe and the Aran Islands are empty. There is a waiting list for patients for those locations but they are not opened. A total of 29 patients are awaiting an inpatient bed as we speak, while 43 people are on trolleys today. The Taoiseach is quoting figures but we are in a Republic where we should have a public health system for all.

I welcome any progress any made. No progress has been made following the options appraisal, however, which recommended the building of a brand new hospital, because the Government did not respond. It went for a lesser option and a jigsaw approach, as the Taoiseach said, with no overall vision. We have St. Finbar's orthopaedic ward with five staff missing, between nursing care and assistants. We have an accident and emergency department that has no planning permission and as a result, in desperation, a temporary one was put up in the meantime for €16 million. A whole new block is to go up but it is nowhere to be seen.

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is beside the Taoiseach and we talked about changing the system to allow these steps to be much easier. Two former taoisigh have said that the accident and emergency department in Galway is not fit for purpose. I and other colleagues have stood here and talked about step 1, 2, 3 and 4 while the Government told us it was changing the process. In the meantime, the public hospital in Galway is absolutely under the most appalling pressure due to lack of staff and facilities, with no dignity or privacy.

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