Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to refer to the debate in the media during the past two weeks regarding accident and emergency departments. There is a shortage of real information on the services provided by the dedicated staff in those departments. For instance, it is projected that there will be 451,000 emergency admissions in 2015. Information on what is happening should be made available. That figure equates to an average of approximately 1,239 people per day. People need to be advised urgently to use all other health services before resorting to accident and emergency departments. If the average weekly number of people attending departments is more than 8,600, any sudden increase could see that figure increase to 12,000. The HSE, the Department of Health and all of the agencies and people involved in providing health care need to get the message about other services out there.