Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Will the Leader invite the Minister for Health to the House to debate or listen to suggestions from Senators as to how we might tackle the problem of people on trolleys in the accident and emergency departments? There is a lot of talk about people on trolleys in hospitals and of needless admissions to hospitals. We all know of occasions where elderly people presenting with needs such as intravenous medication are transferred to hospital from their homes or from nursing homes. They must go in to the hospital through the accident and emergency department. If there was a consultant-led, community geriatrician team many of these elderly people could be assessed and treated in the nursing home or their own homes.

At Christmas 2015 I went to Mullingar hospital where there were 20 people on trolleys, 16 of whom were elderly and most of them needed to be rehydrated because they were ill. They had been in nursing homes but there was nobody there who was trained to put up a drip to hydrate them. If there was a community-based team with a consultant and nurse that could be done within the person’s home or the nursing home and would save much hardship. Thankfully, this morning there is nobody on a trolley in Mullingar hospital. This could help to reduce overcrowding in the accident and emergency departments in hospitals such as Mullingar on a bad day. Just as important, it would also preserve the dignity of older people and save their families the stress of a hospital admission. Others here have suggestions and I have asked for this over the past 18 months and was told it would happen as a pilot scheme and I do not think it has. If it has, I cannot seem to find it.