Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for attending to address this important issue. If I look through my files from the long number of years I have been in the Houses, one of the issues that has arisen most often is that of the state of play at University Hospital Limerick, or Limerick Regional Hospital as it was previously known. Notwithstanding significant investment over the years, the situation has deteriorated and continues to deteriorate. Those of us who believed in the reorganisation of the hospital structure in the region took a fair amount of political heat at the time for doing what we believed was the right thing – focusing attention and developing a hospital that was best in class and best in practice and reached a high standard. Unfortunately, that has not happened.

There has been significant investment in the hospital's new accident and emergency unit and a new ward block, but demand continues to outstrip the services the hospital provides. I do not know whether this is due to bad planning or the poor use of its facilities, but something is amiss. The population in the mid-west region has not exploded or done anything other than what was expected over a prolonged period. Last Thursday, the number of people on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick's accident and emergency unit was 126. That was the highest ever in a hospital in the history of the State. Today, that number is 111. Yesterday, it was 113. Cork University Hospital had the next highest number yesterday at 63. That is a huge number and should not be that high. I suspect if we did not have the situation in Limerick, the people from Cork would be crying blue murder.

This is not just about numbers, which the Minister of State knows as a hard-working, on-the-ground politician. She knows that, behind every number and statistic, there is an individual or family and there is heartache. As the trolley numbers continued to increase in recent weeks, the level of heartache and pain brought to my door by people who were looking out for a loved one was at an all-time high. Hand on heart, there is nothing that I can say to them that I believe would solve their problems.

I have reached a point where I think that the only appropriate response is to bring in an external and independent review team. I do not mind where they come from, but I will say where they cannot come from, namely, the hospital, the HSE or the Department of Health. I want a thorough investigation, audit, analysis or whatever you want to call it, and it needs to be done by someone who is entirely independent of the various vested interests. I am not casting aspersions on any individual or group, but I will not have confidence in repeating anything I hear from the Minister of State, the Department or the Minister, with the greatest of respect to them, unless and until it is supported by a document prepared by a group of management consultants without any connection to the hospital, the HSE or the Department. If that requires going outside the State, it is the least we can do. Last Thursday, the figure was 126. Yesterday, it was 113 and today it is 111. I do not know what the figure will be tomorrow but I am sure it will peak again. We owe it to the families and the people who are affected. With the best will in the world, we like to say that if people are on death's door, they will be treated in the accident and emergency department and if people are only a little sick, they have to wait a little longer. That does not wash anymore because the truth is that when I talk to nurses and doctors on the ground, they tell me privately that it cannot be guaranteed that they are able to deliver care that will save the lives of individuals. That is a serious situation to be in. We need to get to the bottom of this. I keep being reassured there is no shortage of money or planning. There is, however, a shortage of solutions to a problem that has been around for a very long time and which predates the time in office of the Minister of State and, indeed, that of her predecessor.