Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of elderly patients being accommodated on trolleys in many accident and emergency departments across the country. A man aged almost 80 years was on a trolley in University Hospital Galway, UHG, for three days over the weekend before eventually being given a bed in the medical assessment unit. That is unacceptable. Everyone can appreciate that doctors and nurses do sterling work in hospitals. However, the accident and emergency department in UHG is not fit for purpose. It is one of the busiest accident and emergency departments in the country and has a wide catchment area. In addition, insufficient beds are available. I am conscious that the special delivery unit is to deploy a team to make specific plans and recommendations for units which are under particular pressure such as that in UHG. While I was informed by the Minister for Health recently that he hopes to include a new accident and emergency department in the forthcoming capital programme, which I support 100%, we need to plan for the future. I am informed that the hospital in Galway performs reasonably well in discharging patients who no longer need acute care. The issue, therefore, is a lack of beds. We need more, as the population is ageing and people are living longer. I would like to move beyond day-to-day management and have a constructive debate on the issue in the House. Will the Leader invite the Minister to come to the House to explore locations where beds are needed and to have a strategy in place under which long-term plans can be implemented? We need to start thinking long term, not just implement temporary fix measures.