Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The lack of beds in hospitals in the west, and in University Hospital Galway in particular, has been raised here previously. I had not intended to raise this issue again but I am doing so on foot of a telephone call I received this morning from a young woman called Mary, who was diagnosed with lymphoma four weeks ago and whose experience underlines the human difficulties being caused by the lack of beds in University Hospital Galway and elsewhere in the west. She started her treatment plan and had her first session of chemotherapy three weeks ago. Her chemotherapy sessions were planned for 21-day cycles.She was told to ring between noon and 1 p.m. on Monday, which she did, only to be told a bed was not available. She was told to telephone again yesterday, which she did, but again she was told a bed was not available. The nurse then indicated that it would be better to be honest and told her she was 16th on a list and that even when her name was reached, she was not guaranteed a bed.

Mary is 30 years of age. She was supposed to have blood taken on Monday and Thursday, but as she was supposed to travel to Galway, she could not get to Castlebar, 50 miles away, where blood is taken only on Mondays and Thursdays and then sent to Galway. She is a young woman who has been left sitting in her home in north Mayo, not knowing when she will receive the life-saving treatment she needs. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. For as long as I have been a public representative, I have been dealing with people such as Mary.

I ask that the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, explain to the House how he proposes to deal with the lack of hospital beds. Decisions taken by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government to cut bed numbers are causing premature deaths, particularly along the western seaboard. People like Mary are dying prematurely because they are being denied the essential treatment they need. Hospital bed numbers were cut under the stewardship of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats and the previous Fine Gael-Labour Party Government. The Government will tell us its decisions cannot be reversed in the same way it told us medical cards could not be given to children with disabilities. That claim was proved wrong in the Dáil yesterday evening.

We can no longer pat ourselves on the back or run around like self-licking lollipops as we praise ourselves for what we are doing when people are dying prematurely because they cannot afford basic health care and have been denied such care by successive Governments.