Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I can only speak for my area of Carlow-Kilkenny. This year, the number of patients on trolleys in Kilkenny hospital was up. The staff are worn out. They are excellent and do a great job. Over Christmas, there was one particular unit where there were 44 beds but 52 people being cared for. They were on couches. That is how bad it was. We need to look at this because it is getting worse. I often wonder about figures and I have to question them at certain times. They do not add up when there is a unit with 44 beds treating 52 people.

People are living longer and the system is not catering for that. I visited people in Kilkenny hospital who were sick over Christmas. When they were on a trolley and got into a ward, they were in a ward with ten people; there could be six men and four women or five men and five women. It is at the stage where people do not have their dignity in hospital. The staff are working hard and trying to put many people into the wards, but people's dignity and pride are gone. They are sharing wards with strangers. Men and women are sharing wards. It is unacceptable.