Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It will come as no surprise to the Taoiseach that I wish to raise the ongoing crisis in University Hospital Limerick. As we sit here, 113 people are on trolleys there.

These are people who were assessed as in need of a bed but no bed was available for them. The trolley crisis at University Hospital Limerick continues to impact patient safety and well-being, as the Minister is well aware. Already this year, we have had 3,392 people treated in this manner. It is totally unacceptable. It is not fair on them and their families or on the staff who must deal with them, often in an unsafe and desperately overcrowded emergency department. The lack of beds affects nearly all departments across University Hospital Limerick. Much of the normal activity in the hospital is suspended daily. Additional patients are moved onto wards and into hallways outside emergency units. Elective surgeries are cancelled. People arrive at the hospital to be told that their scheduled procedure has been cancelled due to the lack of beds. What steps is the Government taking, here and now, to deal with the numbers of people on trolleys and to stop the cancellation of procedures in the hospital because there are no beds available?

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