Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support my colleague, Senator Hildegarde Naughton, in her call for a debate with the Minister for Health on the capital investment required to be put in place to address the crisis we are seeing in accident and emergency departments at hospitals across the country. It is clear that the unit at University Hospital Galway, for example, is not fit for purpose, having never been designed to cater for the volumes attending it. A new building is needed and I urge the Minister to proceed with the project as a matter of urgency. The shortage of beds in many hospitals is leading to a situation where patients are left on trolleys for unacceptably long periods which is adding to the waiting lists for many procedures.

An equally significant issue that needs to be addressed is the difficulty in recruiting key medical personnel, including nurses, at many hospitals. Large numbers of our best and brightest are working in the health service in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and elsewhere. We need a debate with the Minister on what we can do to attract these people back to work in the health service. It should include an examination of issues such as tax incentives, relocation costs and any other issue that might be relevant. We are in a crisis because we cannot entice key medical personnel to work in the health service. These issues require a full debate with the Minister and I urge the Leader to organise it as soon as possible.