Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for choosing this Commencement matter and I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Feighan. Once again, I wish to discuss healthcare provision in Galway, this time in respect of overcrowding in the emergency department in University Hospital Galway, UHG.

We have had a strange year in healthcare provision. Obviously, there have been cancellations, Covid-19 and an array of issues. However, this is the month of May, not a month that is traditionally associated with overcrowding due to the winter flu, vomiting bugs and the like. Nonetheless, there is overcrowding in UHG. Today, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, there are 24 people on trolleys in the hospital. The figure was as high as 36 last week, and it has gone up and down from the low 20s to the mid-30s over the past month. One patient on a trolley is one patient too many when he or she should have the dignity of having a bed provided. The overcrowding is not the fault of the hard-working staff and management team in the hospital, who are doing their best under difficult circumstances to ensure patients get the best care possible, which they deserve.

It is worrying that people in Galway are being told not to attend the emergency department unless it is necessary. I hope that nobody presents unless it is necessary. That is the basis of an emergency. Clearly, there must be an assessment of why there is overcrowding in UHG at present. We know the emergency department is not fit for purpose.Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny said it in response to the then Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Micheál Martin. The then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, announced in February 2017 that funding for the design of a new emergency department was provided by the Department. In September 2018, Saolta University Health Care Group told the then Minister, Deputy Harris, that the planning permission for the new emergency department would be lodged before Christmas 2018. Here we are in May 2021 with no planning application lodged yet.

There is a lack of focus and direction from the Saolta hospital group in terms of the emergency department. The people and patients of Galway are suffering from having an emergency department that is still not fit for purpose. We have had continous overcrowding over the last month. Hopefully, this will resolve itself in the near future. Is the Department of Health taking an active interest and a proactive approach to overcrowding issues in the hospital? Is the Department interested in sending down a team to assess why there is overcrowding over the last month in UHG? Are there sufficient discharge managers? Is there a team that can go in to better manage the discharge of patients and the flow of patients through the system to ensure they get a bed as quickly as possible? That was done before. The then Minister, Deputy Harris, sent a team down from the HSE nationally to ensure the efficiency of the hospital was improved. I do not like using the words "efficiency" or "flow" but it is a situation of grave concern for patients, their families and the people of Galway. We have continuous overcrowding and no light at the end of the tunnel. If there was such light and we knew work would start next month or before Christmas on the new emergency department, we could tolerate it to a degree. However, we are putting up with this problem and we have no light at the end of the tunnel.