Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to refer to the INMO's release yesterday of figures on overcrowding in our hospitals. The figure for the period between January and June shows record levels of overcrowding, with 52,000 admitted patients on trollies, in overcrowded wards or on plastic chairs. My own hospital in Dublin South Central, St. James's, is the largest in the country. The figures for the hospital have almost doubled in the first six months of 2017 when compared with last year. The trolley issue is beyond a crisis. The health service is not fit for purpose. We have major capacity issues with beds, recruitment and retention of staff, funding cuts and the legacy of embargoes. We have put forward - in the future health care plan - a single integration management system which outlines how to deal with capacity issues and the shift to primary community care, a matter about which we talk so much in the Chamber. Will the Acting Leader ask the Minister for Health to come before the House to set out the process of implementation of the future of health care plan and what emergency measures, if any, he brought to the accident and emergency task force in the context of dealing with overcrowding?