Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue pertaining to our health services. At a time when Ministers, including the current leader of the Labour Party, are fighting over who will be Ireland's next European Commissioner because they probably do not want to stand in the next general election, our health service is in crisis. The head of the HSE has had an open and frank confrontation with the Secretary General in the Department of Health. This is also happening at a time when our health service is struggling to cope with demand and provide services to the people who require them.

I request the Leader to facilitate a debate today on the health services. If he is unwilling to do so, I will propose an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister for Health should come here today to discuss the crisis in our health service. Morale has never been at a lower point, as any hospital staff member will confirm. Wards have been closed, rosters are not being filled and gaps in service provision remain. The Health Information and Quality Authority has written to a number of hospitals, including Tallaght hospital outlining that it had no senior doctor on duty in accident and emergency units when 24 patients remained on trolleys.

Last week my colleague, Deputy Kirk, raised the issue of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda where, in the first four months of the year 1,955 patients were obliged to remain on trolleys, an increase of about 40% on the same period in 2013. Waiting times for procedural operations in hospitals are extending every week. The HSE's answer is to recruit agency staff. Agency doctors in hospitals cost around €1,000 per day. The appropriate answer would be to recruit the staff required. Most of the senior consultants who have spoken out in recent weeks have agreed that there remains a national medical manpower crisis. The Minister for Health is not willing to provide the manpower in order that the people who require medical assistance would receive it. It is a crisis; we are at breaking point. This week we learnt that the HSE or Department of Health is running at an overspend of approximately €500 million.

We have all heard that a Government reshuffle is approaching. While it may not come soon enough for some Ministers, the reality remains that the Minister who heads up the Department of Health is administering a crisis he cannot handle at the moment. The people cannot take any more. Staff working within the HSE and our hospitals cannot take any more because they are under-resourced and understaffed. It is high time that we had a proper debate in this House exclusively on the service provision in our hospitals. I hope the Leader will accede to the request.